Care of Duty
by Trufreak89
Summary: When Sam's hurt chasing a suspect she ends up under the care of a certain doctor. When Lexy sees Sam isn't coping she tries to help, but she has her own demons to contend with and may end up needing Sam's help more. Spoilers for S2.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Care of Duty

**Summary: **When Sam's hurt chasing a suspect she ends up under the care of a certain doctor. When Lexy sees Sam isn't coping she tries to help, but she has her own demons to contend with and may end up needing Sam's help more.

Disclaimer:

Don't own Lip Service or anything associated with the show.

**A/N: **Set post 2.2 so possible spoilers.

"Police! Stop right there!" DS Sam Murray shouted at the top of her lungs as she chased after the suspect that had just bolted from his hiding place in a bush. He'd robbed a local convenience shop and had been hiding in the undergrowth since the police had pulled up. Sam's partner Ryder, and the uniforms who had been searching the street with them, hadn't seen the kid bolt from his hiding place, but she had. She was after him like a shot, with Ryder and the others looking on bewildered.

She heard them join in the chase with Ryder shouting behind her, but she was in much better shape to chase the teenager and she knew her partner would give up and give chase from the car. If she could just keep him in sight she'd have backup when she caught up to the thieving little sod. Her legs began to cramp up as her boots pounded against the road, she was a good distance runner but she usually had the comfort of her trainers and the luxury of being able to take a break.

The kid she was chasing clearly wasn't a runner though. They'd been sprinting for a good five minutes and the kid was slowing down. He stumbled over his feet as he tried to round a corner too quickly and almost went down. Sam pushed aside the pain in her legs and the burning in her chest and went for it full belt, launching herself at the kid before he could get up again.

They both fell to the floor and Sam felt the wind getting knocked out of her, the teen would have taken most of the impact but he seemed to recover quicker and started trying to wrestle her off his back. She had one arm pinned behind his back, as she'd been taught since day one in training, but he wrenched it free and delivered a left hook to the side of her head. The blow momentarily stunned her and she fell back as he bucked up, sending her crashing to the ground.

She came back to her senses and tried to grab his leg to stop him fleeing. She was sure Ryder would be right around the corner and if she could hold on to the kid long enough they'd have him. The boy cursed at her and called her a bitch as he kicked out with the leg she'd caught on to. His trainer struck Sam in the face and she yelled more from anger than pain. When she grabbed on to his foot for a second time it made her hold on all the more tightly. "Stupid fucking bitch!" He spat at her as he tried to yank his leg free again.

Sam was determined not to let him get away though and held on for all she was worth. She was no push over. She could handle a kick or two. Even with blood pouring from her nose she held on to the kid's tracksuit bottoms, trying to unbalance him and pull him down to the ground as he wrenched his leg. "Fucking let go!" His fist slammed in to the side of Sam's head again and again until her fingers betrayed her and the boy's leg slipped from her grip.

She lay on the floor, blood from her nose dripping down her face as her head began to ache and the world around her swam in and out of focus. The teenage thief didn't stop there though. She'd pissed him off and the kid was seeing red. His foot slammed in to her side, ripping a yell from her lips. He pulled his foot back again and again, brutally kicking her chest and stomach.

Then the blue lights and piercing wail of a police car swung around the corner, barely missing Sam as she laid half on the road and half on the path. The kid ran off again leaving Sam choking for breath. She rolled on to her back, trying to follow him with her eyes as the blood from her nose trickled to the back of her throat and she started to choke on it. Ryder jumped out of the car and rushed straight over to her. She tried to push him away, to tell him to chase after the kid, but the blood in her throat made her words come out gargled and strangled. Ryder wouldn't leave his partner though and recognizing she was choking he rolled her on to her side. He started moving her arm and her knee and Sam wanted to ask what the hell he thought he was doing. Just as she realised he was putting her in the recovery position the other police cruiser skidded to a halt in front of them.

Ryder shouted at the baby-faced constable behind the wheel to chase the driver as he yanked out his radio and demanded an ambulance. Sam tried to sit up. She didn't need a hospital. Her limbs didn't seem to be listening to her though and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't make anything work. Everything was going dark as she struggled to keep her eyes open, blood from her nose and the gash on her head was seeping in to her eye and she suddenly realised just how much pain she was in.

The adrenaline from chasing the kid had run out and her body was starting to go in to shock. Her lungs ached from the chase and her head was pounding; everywhere ached. Ryder sat on the cold wet ground beside her as she started to shake and whispered soothing words to her, trying to reassure her the ambulance was on its way and that everything would be alright.

She could see how panicked he looked and felt the overwhelming pain coursing through her body. He was wrong. She wasn't going to be ok. She was going to die; and it didn't matter. She let her eyes close over and gave herself in to the darkness that had been threatening to overtake her since Cat's death two months previously. "Sam! Sam, open your eyes!" She heard Ryder shouting at her, but she didn't care. She was done fighting. "SAM!"

"Sam?" A familiar voice washed over the detective as her eyes began to slowly open again. Her chest was aching all the more and there was an unbearable pressure on her ribs. As her eyes adjusted to the harsh lights rushing by overhead she realised why. There was a doctor straddling her hips and they had just been performing CPR on her. Her heart had stopped beating in the ambulance on the way over and they were rushing her through the A&E department on a stretcher. "Sam, you're at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, you've been attacked but you're ok. I need you to try and stay with me, ok Sam?"

Sam's dry lips parted to answer her but she felt the bile in her stomach rising up and she turned her head just in time to bring up what little she'd had for her lunch, most of it ending up on the doctor. She hadn't been eating much for a long time and it was mostly just bile as she wretched. "You're ok Sam, just bring it up. Better out than in, that's what my gran always says." The chirpy young doctor was really starting to annoy her. She just wanted to shout at them all to leave her alone. To let her be; but she didn't have to put up with them for long as the world around her swam in and out of focus again.

She was unconscious again by the time got her to a bay in the A&E ward. "Alright people, we've got a thirty-six year old female patient, suspected concussion and possible broken ribs. Her heart stopped in transit, and she's lost consciousness twice, that puts her concussion at a grade three. We need an IV line set up, x-rays and an MRI!" Declan, one of the senior consultants, shouted to the assembled team as he helped Lexy down from the stretcher. "Highlight of your night, ay?" He smirked at her as she wiped at the sick on her scrubs.  
"Fuck you Declan." She snapped in anger. "Just do your damn job for once and help her!"  
"Fuck, that's hot cop isn't it?" He finally realised who was lying on the stretcher. "Go get cleaned up, we've got this."  
"No, I'll stay, I-"  
"Lex, at least go change your scrubs." He slapped her on the shoulder and sent her off to get a change of clothes.

The young doctor made her way to the locker room and pulled off her scrubs, dumping them in the laundry bin before she pulled a clean pair out of her locker. "Fuck." She slammed her hand against her locker as she rested her head on the cold metal for a moment. Seeing Sam like that had brought back memories of Cat. Lexy was a good doctor, she had only lost a handful of patients in her career, but none of them had haunted her like Cat. She saw it in her flat mate's eyes every day. The unspoken accusation that she hadn't done enough.

Sam had barely spoken to any of them since the funeral, despite Tess' best efforts to get her out to Rubies or over their house for dinner. The blonde had been wailing on to Lexy about it for weeks, asking her to help persuade Sam to come over, but she hadn't thought it was her place to try and talk Sam in to something she didn't want to do. Lexy saw people who were grieving all the time; she knew it hit people different ways. Some wanted to be surrounded by loved ones, others just wanted to be left the hell alone.

By the time she got back to the A&E she found Declan had stabilised Sam and they were just waiting for her X-rays to come back before they moved her to a ward. "I was right, third rib's broken, fourth is bruised. Do we have a next of kin for her?" Lexy examined Sam's x-rays on the computer in the office she shared with Declan. He checked her summary care record but fell silent. "What?"  
"Next of kin is down as Cat Mackenzie…so unless you have a Ouija board?"  
"Fuck." Lexy rolled her eyes. "I can call Ed and see if he has her parent's number."  
"I think her partner's in the waiting room. I'll go have a word. She probably won't be awake tonight anyway."

Declan was right. Sam didn't wake up again until the early hours of the morning. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she blinked to try and clear her vision. It was still dark outside, with the sun hovering just below the horizon, ready to break free for the start of a new day. She was hooked up to a morphine drip but her body still ached all over. There was a button on her bed that controlled the dose and she eagerly pressed it a few times, she knew it would only allow her one dose but she still pressed it regardless. Her chest ached and she had a blinding headache. "How you doing?" Her had snapped to the side as the familiar Australian voice addressed her from the chair beside her bed. It belonged to the doctor from the stretcher; Lexy.  
"I think I puked on you." She croaked as her throat felt dry and raw. Lexy laughed it off as she got to her feet and poured her a glass of water from the pitcher beside her bed. She held it up to her chin and eased it up for Sam to take a drink.  
"Little sips. And it's ok, hazard of the job."

She took a seat beside Sam's bed again and put her feet up on the bed as she flipped through her chart "We've put you on a morphine drip for the pain. You've broken one rib and badly bruised another. Luckily your nose wasn't broken, there's just a bit of swelling and a nasty shiner on your eye. We think you might have a concussion too."  
"When can I go home?" Sam tried to sit up but the pain was insufferable. Lexy shot up from her seat and eased her back down.  
"We'll keep you in for a day or two for observation and to manage your pain. As long as there are no obvious side effects from the concussion we should be able to discharge you. Do you have any nausea, ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light? Mental confusion? Memory loss?"  
"I wish." Sam replied dryly. "No. Just a headache." She added as Lexy silently put her chart back down on the end of her bed.

"Right, well you partner's called your parents. They should be on their way-"  
"No." Sam tried to sit back up again and managed to get a little further with the morphine taking the edge off the pain. "No, I don't want them here. I need to call them-"

"Ok, here's the deal. You be a good little patient, follow doctor's orders and lie down, and I will give you my phone to call your parents, deal?" She put on her sternest voice as she tried to get the struggling detective to lie down.  
"Throw some more drugs in and you've got a deal doctor." Sam grumbled as she lay back down and tried to catch her breath. "Are you sure you're even qualified? How old are you?"  
"I just turned twenty-seven in April, and no I am not actually qualified. I just turned up one day with my stethoscope and they've let me work here ever since. Don't tell anyone though." She winked at the scowling detective and managed to get a hint of a smile out of her as she handed her phone over.  
"Explains a lot…thanks for this Lexy. I just don't want them up here; they only left a couple of weeks ago after…" She trailed off; they both knew why her parents had been up to Glasgow.

"How are you coping? I mean, Tess has been worried about you."  
"I'm not." Sam blinked back tears as she struggled to type her mother's number in to the mobile, the numbers were all swimming in front of her. Her parents, Ryder and Tess had all tried to get her to talk about Cat's death, but she just hadn't been able to. Maybe it was easier because Lexy was a relative stranger. "I was lying in that road last night, choking on my own blood, and I just didn't care…"  
"It gets easier." Lexy took the phone back out of her hands. "I know it sounds stupid and clichéd, but it does get easier. What's your mum's number? I'll ring her for you; let her know you're ok and that she doesn't need to come up."  
"Good luck with that, my mum's a nightmare. She never listens."  
"I'm a doctor, everyone listens to me." Lexy smirked. Sam relented and gave her the number. She listened as the young doctor reassured her parents that she was fine, and then flat out lied and told them a nurse had confused Sam with another patient when she'd spoken to Ryder. She'd only had a mild concussion and would be discharged later in the morning.

"Impressive." Sam commented from where she was sitting up in her hospital bed. "I'd hate to come up against you in an interview room."  
"Well you're in my world now _Detective,_ so lie down, take your medicine and shut up."  
"Loving the bedside manner _doctor_." Sam smiled for what felt like the first time in months. "Thanks Lexy, I appreciate your help."  
"No bother. They pay me for this shit." She smiled back at her and then dropped her gaze as Sam awkwardly cleared her throat and looked away, declaring she was feeling tired again. "Right, well my shift's finished now, I'll let Tess know what's happened, and I'll be back tonight. I'll try and pop my head in if it's quiet. See how you're doing."  
"Thanks."

After leaving Sam's room Lexy made her way to the locker room and found Declan changing out of his scrubs. "I thought you went home hours ago?" He frowned as she started pulling off her own scrubs. "Were you giving hot cup a bed bath?"  
"Fuck off Declan." She rolled her top up and threw it at his head. "I'm worried about her. I don't think she's coping well."  
"Some hoodie kicked her head in two months after her girlfriend died, she's not exactly going to be doing cartwheels down the ward is she?"  
"Maybe you're right." Lexy sighed as she pulled on her jeans. "I've asked the day nurses to keep an eye on her and I'm back in tonight-"  
"Careful Lexy, you almost sound like you care."

The Australian ignored him completely as her eyes narrowed on her personal mobile as she found three missed calls all from a withheld number. "Fuck."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who's reading and for the lovely people who left reviews. I'm going to try and update as often as I can, but I work full time and mostly write for the Skins fandom so can't always guarantee a quick update, going to aim for at least once a week though.

"Hey Lexy, do you want some breakfast? Or supper for you I guess." The second she walked through the door Tess was in her face. The Australian wasn't in the mood to face anyone, let alone the hyper blonde at eight in the morning. Her show was only a few days away from opening and she was getting more manic as the days went by. "You're home late."  
"Yeah, there was an incident last night. Sam was attacked-"  
"Oh my god! Is she ok?"  
"Broken rib and a concussion, but nothing too serious." Lexy shrugged her leather jacket off her shoulders and draped it over on the of the kitchen chairs. Her body was aching from being curled up in one of the rickety plastic hospital chairs all night and she needed a nice long hot shower to work the kinks out.

First she had had to reassure Tess that Sam was ok, so she sat at the kitchen table drinking whatever herbal tea the blonde had made and explained what had happened. "I'm back in tonight so I'll check in on her…between you and me I don't think she's doing very good."  
"I wouldn't know! Every time me and Ed try to get her out she says she's working! I know she only really knew us through Cat, but we're still his friends now, you know? Just because…just because Cat's gone…" Tess trailed off, fresh tears forming in her eyes. Despite her foul mood Lexy reached out and placed her hand over the blonde's.  
"She knows that. Some people just handle these things differently. Visiting's between two and four if you want to go see her? I'll give you the ward number."  
"Yeah, thanks." Tess wiped at her eyes, her mascara already starting to run. Lexy pulled her hand back as Tess smiled at her.

Since moving in with her new flat mates she had started to notice the way Tess looked at her. The little smiles she sent her way, the cups of herbal tea that were ready for her coming in from nightshift, the way Tess would pull her up to dance when they were at Rubies. She'd have to try and find a way to nip it in the bud without hurting her feelings. The last thing she needed was to sleep with her other flatmate too. Frankie had been a big enough mistake to start with. "I need some sleep, I'll see you tonight." She felt bad for leaving the blonde alone in the kitchen when she was clearly upset, but it had been a long night and she was exhausted. She just about managed to kick her shoes off and pull her jeans down before she collapsed on to her bed. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, she went out like a light and didn't hear a thing when Frankie came home an hour later and slammed the front door behind her.

She'd been out all night and looked a little worse for wear as she slumped on to the sofa. "You look like shit." Tess pointed out as she stood in front of the mirror, fussing over whether to tie her hair back or leave it down. She settled on down and ran her hands through it to try and fluff her curls up a bit.  
"Thanks." Frankie grumbled, her voice was raw and husky. "You coming to Rubies tonight? There's a band on."  
"Yeah, maybe. I'm going to see Sam after rehearsal, she's in the hospital, someone attacked her last night-"  
"Shit, she ok?" Tess was surprised by Frankie's interest, but she hid it well as she repeated what Lexy had told her.  
"You could come see her with me and Ed, if you wanted?" Frankie snorted at that. She could just imagine Sam's face if she turned up at the hospital.  
"Think I'll pass thanks. Just gonna hang around here today."

Frankie was still stuck to the sofa when Lexy crawled out of bed later that afternoon. Her limbs still felt stiff from sitting in the hospital chair until the early hours of the morning. She still had a few hours until she had to be back at the hospital so she made them both a cup of tea and curled up on the sofa next to the blonde. Things had been awkward at first, living with someone who she had slept with hadn't been ideal, but the rent was cheap enough and it was close to the hospital. Her flatmates hadn't turned out all that bad really and Frankie certainly had more on her mind than a one night stand with the good doctor.

She'd barely left her room in the weeks after Cat's death and when she finally had emerged she had went to the other extreme, staying out most nights and stumbling home in the morning, trying to drink away her pain. Lexy had tried to convince her to get help, to see her own doctor, but the blonde had shut both of her flatmates out, refusing to even listen when Tess suggested grief counselling. Frankie wasn't the talking type. She would hold on to her grief and let it fester until it completely choked her. Lexy was sure Sam was doing the same, but it was hardly the time to point out similarities between the two.

They sat in an awkward silence, neither of them really sure what to say to the other, until the front door opened and Tess and Ed mercifully broke the silence. "Hey guys!" Tess was still as hyper as she had been that morning and Lexy was ready to make a break for it until she mentioned Sam. "We've just been to the hospital to see Sam, but the nurse said she didn't want any visitors! Wouldn't even let me try asking Sam myself! How rude? I mean some people-"  
"I've got to get ready for work."

The young doctor made her escape to get a shower and change for work, luckily no one pointed out she would be hours early. When she arrived on the ward they were keeping Sam she flashed her hospital ID at the nurse that had turned Tess and Ed away. Sam was still in the private room she'd been in the night before. It was an unwritten rule in hospitals that cops got private rooms. She was lying in her bed, her head turned away from the door and the full tray of food that sat on the hospital table that hovered over the bed.

She didn't even look up as Lexy closed the door behind her, presuming it was just another nurse to take away her tray. "Blimey, I knew hospital food was bad, but what is that?" The doctor teased as she picked up Sam's fork and stirred it through the untouched lumpy white mush that was supposed to pass for mashed potato. "What's the point in me patching you up if they're going to feed you this rubbish?" Sam finally turned over to face her but barely acknowledged she was there. She looked like she was staring right through her, like Lexy was just another faceless doctor, not a friend. "Tell you what, there's a nice little pizza place down the road. If you can manage a hello I could manage a ten inch margarita."  
"I'm not hungry." Sam finally spoke but it was just to dismiss her. Her expression hardened, like she was looking at a suspect, and that was even worse than being looked through. Still she held her ground, she could handle punch drunk Scottish men three times the size of Sam in the emergency room on a Friday night. It took a lot to intimidate her.

She took a seat on the hard plastic chair that was personally responsible for the cramp in her back. "So Tess and Ed said they tried to come see you earlier."  
"I wasn't up for visitors." Sam turned her attention back to the window and the world outside. Not that she could see much of it. Her room was on the end of the hospital and high enough up so that the only view it offered was of the dull grey roof of the next building. Still it seemed to more interesting to her than talking to Lexy.

"How you feeling today?" She stood up and flicked through Sam's chart, taking note of what the doctor on rounds had written about her pain management. They still had her on a pretty high dose of morphine so when she answered Lexy knew she was lying.  
"Great. Can you discharge me now please?"  
"Sorry, I'm not actually your doctor, you'll have to wait to speak to-"  
"Right, so what are you doing here then? If you can't discharge me then what good are you?" Sam's caustic tone was finally starting to wear the younger woman down and she had to take a long breath before answering.  
"I'm checking in on a friend Sam, just like Tess and Ed tried to. I know what you've been through Sam and you have every right to be mad at the world, but don't take it out on the people who are trying to help you." Lexy's own sharp tone seemed to get through to her and Sam mumbled an apology.

"I'm sorry. I just…" She let out a heavy sigh as she lay on her back looking up at the ceiling. "It's just been a rough couple of months."  
"Have you spoken to anyone about it?" Lexy softened her tone as she took a seat back in the chair by Sam's bed.  
"My doctor." Sam replied as she finally turned over to face the woman beside her bed, it obviously pained her to lie on her side with her broken rib but she didn't let it show. "He put me on anti-depressants. I stopped taking them though, it was like my head was constantly under water…"  
"There are other pills you could try, it's not one size fits all, but you need to give them a while to work-"

"I don't want them." Sam snapped like a petulant child, then amended her tone as she realised she was once again snapping at the younger woman who was only trying to help. "Sorry. I just…the woman I loved is dead, I figure I'm allowed to be depressed about that." Lexy nodded in sympathy.  
"Of course you are, but there are healthier ways to cope than ignoring your friends and not eating. Not that I blame you for turning your nose up at that crap." She nodded to the tray of food in front of the other woman.  
"How about that pizza later?" Lexy smiled as Sam tried to meet her half way. Offering to eat something was hardly a major breakthrough, but it was a start.  
"I have an hour before I need to start my shift. I don't know about you but I'm starved."

Lexy got a disapproving look from one of the nurses as she tried to smuggle a pizza box on to the ward under her jacket. When she got back to Sam's room she was sitting propped up in bed and the tray of food was gone. Lexy placed the pizza box and a can of coke on the table for her before helping herself to a slice and sitting back in the plastic chair with her feet propped up on the end of Sam's bed. "Just make sure you eat all the evidence, nurse ratchet out there didn't look impressed." She finally managed to draw a smile out of Sam as she took a small bite of her own slice.  
"Thanks for this Lexy." They both knew she was talking about more than just the mediocre pizza they were sharing. "I know I've been a real bitch lately."  
"No one can blame you." Lexy shrugged it off. She understood the cop had gone through a lot and getting beat up by a kid probably hadn't helped her already fragile psyche. "Look, I know you want to get out of here, so the more you eat the quicker those ribs of yours will heal." As if to prove she was listening Sam forced herself to take another bite of pizza. She managed two slices before she couldn't force any more down and left the rest for Lexy.

"I'll check in on you later." Lexy promised as she helped the other woman to lie down again. Sam's fingers dug painfully in to her forearm as they worked on easing her back down on to the bed. Once she was on her back again she pressed at her morphine button, trying to ease the pain in her chest. It felt like someone was constantly sitting on her, pushing all of the air out of her lungs. With her belly full and a fresh dose of morphine swimming through her veins it wouldn't be long before she fell asleep.

After disposing of the empty pizza box and cans of coke Lexy made her way to the locker room to change in to her scrubs. She put her phone away in the locker, ignoring the three missed calls she already had. Declan was already waiting for her in the A&E department, perched by the nurse's station, eyeing up a builder with a nail stuck through his thumb. "Hello sunshine, you look happy. Been to see hot cop have you?" She rolled her eyes at him, but her smile was answer enough. "You have! You dog!"  
"She's a friend Declan, and she's grieving! I'm trying to help her, not hit on her."  
"Won't be grieving forever though, will she?" He winked at her before picking up a chart and heading off to see the builder.

She shook her head at him and picked up the chart of her first patient, trying to put Sam to the back of her mind. The last thing she needed on a Saturday night was to be put off her game by thoughts of the cop upstairs. It was a typical Saturday night in the Glasgow Accident and Emergency Department and she was rushed off her feet from the minute she started. The hefty work load was a welcome distraction though and it was well after midnight before she got the chance to take a break.

After a quick bite to eat in the canteen she went back up to Sam's ward and was glad to see the nurse from earlier had been replaced by one she knew. "Hey Bea, you working the late shift this week too?" The blonde nurse smiled up at her from behind the computer screen at the nurse's station.  
"Yeah, Sarah's away again this week...so, you free Wednesday?" Sarah was Bea's girlfriend, and she worked away a lot. They had a pretty open relationship and Lexy had been her booty call since she'd started at the hospital.  
"Can I get back to you on that one? I'm just here to see a friend."  
"Sure, give me a call." Bea shrugged it off. That was the best part of their arrangement. There was no commitment; no whining if one of them couldn't make it or jealousy if someone else came along.

She made her way to the end of the corridor and opened Sam's door as quietly as she could. As she snuck her head around the door she realised she needn't have bothered. Sam was sitting up in her bed; the television screen suspended above her bed was pulled around in front of her and on low, the light from the screen cast shadows on her face, making the swelling of her nose and the bruise under her eye look even worse. She still looked gorgeous though and when her head turned towards the door Lexy blushed at being caught staring.

"Hey, didn't know if you were awake or not." She was thankful her voice came out sounding strong and not as shaky as she felt. She was a twenty-six year old doctor, not a sixteen year old school girl.  
"I've had a few hours." She pushed the television aside, grimacing from the pain in her ribs. "I don't suppose you've brought more pizza?"  
"Hold that thought." Lexy smirked as she disappeared from the room and came back in with a wheelchair.  
"No." Sam shook her head, but a smile was playing on her lips as Lexy wheeled the chair over to the bed. "I'm not getting in that thing. I'll walk." She pushed the covers back from her bed and shuffled so that her legs were hanging over the side of the bed, even that little movement left her gasping for air though and she had to concede to using the chair.

Lexy detached the morphine drip after Sam took a hit, they would be back before she was allowed another does anyway. She hooked her arm around her waist and helped ease her in to the chair, mindful not to move too quickly to avoid any more pain for the older woman. When she wheeled Sam up to the nurse's station Bea looked up from her computer screen with a puzzled frown. "Bit late for a discharge isn't it doctor?"  
"I'm swapping her for a drunk I have downstairs who won't stop signing power ballads." Lexy joked, earning a scowl from the blonde.  
"I think we'll keep DS Murray thanks. So where are you really going?"  
"Midnight humanitarian mission for some edible food. Don't worry, I'll have her back in half an hour."  
"That quick?" Bea teased and Lexy felt her cheeks burning red.

"Nice girl." Sam commented as they left the ward and waited for the lift to come up. "Are you and her?"  
"No." Lexy replied a little too quickly then added. "Well we have before, but it's a no strings attached deal."  
"Ah, to be young again." Sam sighed overdramatically. Lexy snorted as she wheeled her in to the lift.  
"Ok grandma, you're not that much older than me!"  
"Ten years." Sam pointed out. "When I was having my no strings attached days you were still_ playing_ doctor."  
"I don't know, I started pretty young." Lexy shot back and only realised how flirtatious it had sounded after an uneasy silence settled over them.

When the lift opened down in the canteen Lexy was grateful to have something to talk about. "No pizza at this time of night I'm afraid, mostly cold sandwiches, crisps and doughnuts."  
"My favourite." Sam replied and the tension between them seemed to have eased. "Just don't tell my doctor."  
"Please, the amount you run a few doughnuts won't do too much damage." Sam had thrown herself in to her running after Cat's death and Lexy had bumped in to her a few times. They'd shared brief chats and ran a little distance together, but they'd not really spoken much before the detective had managed to get herself put in hospital.  
"Yeah, I don't think I'll be running for a bit." She held her side as she shifted uncomfortably and picked at the sandwich in front of her.  
"Don't you worry; we'll have you back on your feet and running circles around me in no time." Sam smiled and nodded, it was clear she was eager to be mobile again. She let out a yawn as the morphine and the strain of being out of bed got to her. Once she was finished eating Lexy helped her back in to the chair, as she'd been too stubborn to stay in it and had demanded a normal seat, and took her straight back up to her room on the ward.

Bea helped her to get Sam back in to bed without hurting her too much and then Lexy reconnected the morphine for her. "Thanks for that Lex, I think it did me the world of good to get out of this bed." She was clearly in pain from moving, but the young doctor knew it was best for her to get on her feet a bit, as long as she didn't try and do too much too quickly she'd be ok. "I don't suppose you fancy breakfast in the morning? If you're not too tired that is." Sam's eyes were already closing over as she sank in to the pillows and her body gave in to the morphine. Lexy bit her lip and tried not to smirk.  
"I'll see you for breakfast."


	3. Chapter 3

When Lexy walked past the nurse's station on Sam's ward she shot Bea a smile. The blonde nurse had been working a lot more nights with her girlfriend away and had shared a few late night breaks with the Australian doctor, sometimes joined by Sam once she had become well enough to get out of bed. She'd spent almost three weeks in hospital while her rib set, her doctor had been worried about letting her out too soon as there was a risk the broken rib could puncture her lung, so much to Sam's horror they'd kept her in the hospital. She'd started to come around though, even letting Tess and Ed visit her for an hour or two during the week; and Lexy had kept her promise to supply her with edible food. She had visited Sam practically every day, even on her days off. Sam hadn't really commented on it, but Lexy knew she appreciated the company just as much as the food.

When she walked in to her room she found her sitting in the big padded chair by the window. Her face lit up at the sight of Lexy. "Doctor Storey gave me some good news, I'm getting discharged tomorrow."  
"So I didn't need the file in the cake then?" She teased, pleased to see Sam so happy. She knew the older woman had been close to climbing the walls ever since she'd been able to walk unaided again. She'd been trying to persuade Lexy to talk her doctor in to discharging her early, but the younger doctor had stubbornly refused, knowing her colleague was right to be worried about Sam doing too much too quickly. She knew she already had plans to go back to work. Not that Lexy or Ryder would actually let her. "There's cake?" Sam's interest was piqued as Lexy sat her bag down on the table at the end of her bed and rummaged through it, bringing out a plastic container with a slice of chocolate cake in it.  
"There is cake."

She proudly handed it over to the other woman. Sam actually prodded it with the plastic spork, checking for any sign of a metal file. She knew Lexy's sense of humour all too well. Once she was satisfied there was nothing in it she had a taste. Her eyes closed and a small moan of delight escaped her lips. Lexy fussed with the get well cards on the windowsill, pretending not to notice. Spending three weeks with Sam hadn't helped her crush on the other woman. They'd grown closer and had gone from acquaintances to friends of sorts.

They'd been talking about chocolate cake the previous evening and Lexy had stopped by the hospital shop on the way up to get her some. "This is delicious. Want some?" Sam held a forkful out to her. The young doctor knew exactly what she wanted; and it wasn't cake.  
"Nah, watching my figure." Sam scoffed at that as Lexy patted her flat stomach.  
"You're not the one who's put on a stone eating crap!" She objected, though the weight she had put on was pretty much what she had lost from not eating properly after Cat's death. "I'll have to run to Edinburgh and back to shift this."  
"Look on the bright side; until those ribs of yours heal I'll actually be able to keep up with you."  
"Maybe." Sam shot back with a smirk.  
"Oi, don't be cheeky you or I'll tell Storey to keep you in another week!"  
"You do that, I'll tell Ryder to arrest you."  
"On what grounds officer?"  
"Assaulting a police officer. My cholesterol must be sky high by now."

It was good to hear her laughing again as she finished off her cake. "Actually I wanted to ask you a favour. Ryder was supposed to pick up some clean stuff for me, but he's on this high profile case and-"  
"I'll swing by after work and pick you some stuff up." Sam had spent three weeks living in pyjamas that Ryder had brought in for her from the flat, but she couldn't exactly go home in them and she didn't want her partner rifling through her underwear drawer.

"Thanks. My keys are in the cabinet. I just need some clothes to go home in."  
"Not a problem, I'll drop in first thing." Lexy took the set of keys out of the bedside cabinet and promised to pop in and see her on her break. For all she was improving the other woman seemed to be sleeping even less and their early morning cup of tea seemed to have become a ritual. It would be strange when she went home and Lexy wouldn't have an excuse to see her every day. For all her joking it would be a while before Sam was running again and Lexy could 'accidentally' bump in to her.

She put the keys in her bag and stored it away in her locker before changing in to her scrubs and going down to the A&E for her shift. It was a busy Friday night and the usual drunks and junkies littered the waiting area. Declan was already busy trying to cope with the overflow of patients so there was no time for any banter with him. She picked up the next chart and made her way to the private bay that the patient had already been escorted to. When she pulled back the curtain she saw a familiar face. "Doctor Price." Ryder gave her a tight smile as he sat in one of the battered plastic chairs beside the gurney. Handcuffed to the rail of the bed was a scruffy looking teenager with stubble on his chin and a swollen right eye that was completely shut. He was wearing cheap tracksuit pants and expensive trainers and complaining loudly about the arm that wasn't handcuffed. The paramedic that had brought him in had put down on his notes that he thought his humerus was broken; which despite the name was no laughing matter. The man was in agony from the broken bone and was screaming at anyone who would listen.

"So, Mr Levy, it says here you fell down some stairs while trying to evade arrest?" Lexy looked to Ryder instead of the patient. The older man shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he readjusted his tie. Mr Levy, the crude teenager with acne scars on his cheeks glared at her like she was the one who had broken his arm. Everyone in the room knew the break wasn't from a fall. The humerus was a resilient bone and would take a lot of pressure to break; it couldn't have been an accident when Ryder was restraining him either as police officers were trained to restrain suspects safely with no risk of breaking the bones in their arm.  
"Didnae fall doon nuffin, bitch!" His Glaswegian accident was thick and hard to understand, but _bitch _was universal in any language and she had no trouble understanding Ryder when he spoke up.  
"Sean here fell whilst resisting arrest. He's wanted in connection with robbery and the assault of a police officer." He held Lexy's gaze and she didn't need to ask which Officer Sean Levy had attacked.

She felt a lump forming in her throat as she stared at the kid who had been responsible for causing her friend so much pain and anguish. She eventually cleared her throat and her tone hardened as Sean carried on shouting his mouth off and calling her every name under the sun as he insisted on getting pain relief. "I'm sorry Mr Levy, but the paramedic who brought you in has indicated on your notes that he believes you're under the influence of drugs. I'm afraid I can't give you anything. Not even an aspirin." Sean's face contorted in rage as she shouted and screamed at her and yanked on the handcuff, trying to go for her. Ryder sat with a smug expression on his face. Normally Lexy was a good doctor; she didn't see a person as a criminal, or a druggy or a waste of time if she was treating the less savoury characters of Glasgow; just like she didn't normally approve of dodgy cops who beat up suspects, but the circumstances were hardly normal. She didn't see Ryder as the type of cop who would rough up a suspect, but she supposed after what Sean Levy had done to his partner the man could have beaten him black and blue for all she cared.

Levy started screaming about police brutality and malpractice, Lexy was surprised he even knew such a big word, but she soon silenced him as she took a step forward and got right up in his face. Ryder had jumped to his feet in case Levy went for her, but after she had finished threatening him the teenager looked ready to piss his pants and hitting her was the last thing on his mind. "Mr Levy, the police officer you attacked was a good friend of mine, just like John down in X-ray is a good friend of mine, and Belinda, the woman who will put your splint on is a good friend of mine. Now, if she puts your cast on wrong, and your bone sets out of place, we'll have to break it again in six weeks time, and you still won't get any drugs. So I suggest you shut your mouth and mind your manners. Got it?"

He nodded at her like a chastised child and Lexy excused herself from the bay to right up the X-ray request and order a porter to take him to the X-ray department. Ryder followed her out and was replaced by a uniform who looked just as happy with Levy as Ryder and Lexy had been. "Dr Price." He took hold of her arm and pulled her aside in to an empty consulting room. "Ds Murray doesn't need to know about this. I mean, it's not really her style, not that it's mine! But the little prick didn't just hurt my partner, Sam's my best friend and-"  
"I get it Ryder." She put her hand over his and looked him in the eye as she reassured him Sam wouldn't find out about Levy's trip to the A&E, not from her anyway. The DS would more than likely find out her attacker had been caught, she would learn about his injuries and put two and two together, but she wouldn't have to know how Lexy had been involved.  
"Thank you." Ryder nodded at her. "For everything. I know you've been keeping Sam company, it really seems to have done the trick. Anyway, it was nice seeing you again Dr Price."  
"Please, call me Lexy." He nodded again and smiled at her in a way that suggested he didn't know she and Sam were on the same team.

Once he left to go back to babysitting his suspect Lexy got back to attending to her patients and tried to forget about Sam and the fact that the kid who had hurt her was only feet away from her. Withholding pain relief from him had been petty, but there was plenty she could have done to him and he didn't know how lucky he was that the only thing she'd done was withhold drugs from him. It was a long and busy night and she ended up working through her break. It was well after four in the morning by the time she got upstairs to see Sam and the other woman was fast asleep. Deciding not to disturb her she closed the door silently behind her. She'd learn soon enough that her attacker had been caught, Ryder would probably drop in to see her before leaving the hospital, and with the back log and queue in X-ray it wouldn't be anytime soon.

"Hot cop not keeping you up tonight?" Declan teased as she walked in to the locker room yawning her head off. She stuck her middle finger up at him as she pulled off her scrubs and changed in to her civvies. "Heard that kid with the police escort was the one that jumped her." He said it casually but Lexy knew how the hospital grape vine worked. The whole placed would have been buzzing with the gossip and Declan took pride in knowing everything about everything.  
"Yeah, he did." She sighed as she pulled her bag out and checked her phone. Another four missed calls. She tossed it back in to the back and heard it hit off Sam's keys. Sam's flat was closer to the hospital than Lexy's so it would make more sense to go there first.  
"Must have been a nasty fall." Declan commented dryly, knowing as well as she did how the break had happened.  
"Yeah, it was."

Lexy was relieved to get out of the hospital straight after her shift, usually she would pop her head in Sam's room when she finished and most times she would be awake and Lexy would end up staying for another couple of hours. It had been a long and gruelling night and she was ready to crawl in to bed. She had to go to Sam's first though so she pulled out the keys from her bag before tossing it on to the back seat of her car. She'd gotten the address from Sam's medical record and it hadn't taken her long to find it. She wrestled with the keys, trying to find the right one for the front security door. Eventually one of the keys slipped in to the lock and let her in to the building. The front door key was easier and she let herself straight in to the flat that Sam had shared with Cat.

It was relatively tidy and well kept, with moderately priced furniture, art on the walls and a colour scheme that seemed more Cat than Sam. Trying not to snoop too much in the other woman's space she went straight for the bedroom and found some clothes for Sam to wear to leave the hospital; she guessed she'd be more comfortable in sweatpants and a rugby shirt than the many pant suits that filled her wardrobe. She paused as she found a charred lump of wood on Sam's dresser. It was crudely carved with two sets of initials, and neither of them were Sam's. It didn't take a genius to work out whose they were.

She shoved the clothes, some underwear and a pair of trainers in to a bag and left the room as she had found it. She intended to head straight for the door, but as she walked past the kitchen she paused on a hunch. When she walked up to the fridge she pulled the door open and found it empty except for two light beers and a mouldy lemon. The kitchen cupboards were the same story, a few half packets of biscuits and some cornflakes were all she could find. She would be having serious words with Sam in the morning.

Shutting the cupboards again she picked up the bag stuffed with Sam's clothes and let herself out of the flat, taking care to lock the door behind her. Sam would be discharged after morning rounds at about eleven, which meant she would only get a few hours of sleep at best before she'd have to be back at the hospital to give Sam her stuff. By the time she got back to her own flat it was almost light and she had to pull down the blackout blind she'd put up the first month she'd moved in to keep the room in darkness so she could at least get a few hours of sleep.

On the bedside table beside her her phone started to vibrate and the screen lit up, illuminating the dark room. Her hand groped for the phone as she squinted at it with one eye closed. It was another withheld number. "Hello?" She grumbled as she answered the phone. She was met by silence, as she had been for the last month since the calls had started. She let out a tired sighed. "Look, just fuck off!" She hissed before hanging up and tossing the phone down on the bed beside her.

When she woke up later in the morning she wasn't in a much better mood than when she'd fallen asleep. She'd barely managed four hours and still felt groggy as she dragged herself out of bed. Her limbs felt heavy and sluggish as she made her way to the bathroom for a quick shower. The flat was in silence as Tess had already left for work and Frankie was still fast asleep; probably in a coma of drink and drugs. Lexy envied her.

Once she was ready she picked up the bag full of Sam's clothes from beside the door and tossed it on the passenger seat as she climbed in to her car. She'd left just in time to be caught in the early morning traffic and cursed her stupidity as it took her twice as long as normal to get to the hospital. She still made it there just before nine and she knew from experience it would be well after eleven before Sam would be discharged. She stopped by the little shop on the ground floor of the hospital to get herself a cup of coffee to try and perk her up. She picked one up for Sam too before making her way up to the ward.

"Lexy's laundry service." She smirked as she sat Sam's bag down on her bed for her. "And, for one day only, complimentary coffee!"  
"You're a star!" Sam beamed at her as she pulled the clothes out of the bag and the younger woman felt herself blushing.  
"What time's Ryder coming to pick you up then?" Lexy asked, trying to distract the other woman so she wouldn't notice how red her cheeks had gone.  
"Oh, he's not. He offered, but I didn't want to put him out. He only left an hour ago; they caught the scumbag who did this." She indicated at herself. Though her ribs were still healing the bruising on her face had died down to a pale yellowish colour and her eye was no longer swollen shut. She looked a hell of a lot better than she had the night she'd been rushed in to the A&E.  
"I'll drive you home if you want?" She offered, not liking the idea of Sam making her own way home when she could still barely walk more than the distance to the bathroom. She started to object, but Lexy cut her off before she could start. "No objections. You get changed and I'll go have a chat with Dr Storey, see if we can't speed things up a bit."

Sam at least liked the idea of getting out of the hospital earlier and did as she was told while Lexy went to go and find her colleague. He wasn't happy to be harassed to discharge a patient quicker, but he knew Sam was a cop and that afforded her some privileges. Within an hour the discharge papers had been signed and after a quick flirt with the pharmacist she had Sam's prescriptions for painkillers and they were ready to go. Lexy tried to get the stubborn detective in to the wheelchair she had been using to get her around the hospital, but Sam refused and insisted on walking. She had to stop twice before they even made it to the lift, but they eventually made it to the car park and in to Lexy's car.

As much as she tried to hide her discomfort it was clear that Sam was in a lot of pain as she sat slumped in the passenger seat, clutching her aching side. She caught Lexy looking at her and scowled. "I'm fine." She snapped before the younger woman could ask. Lexy put the radio on low to try and break the silence that settled over them. Sam wasn't much of a talker when she was in pain and just sat silently looking out of the window. It was only as they pulled up outside the supermarket that she sat up and took note of where they were.  
"Wait here, I'll get you a chair-"  
"What? No, Lexy I am not being pushed around in a wheelchair! I'll wait here for you."  
"Well that would defeat the point seeing as we're here to do _your _shopping." The younger woman shot back. "You have less in your fridge than I did when I was a student."  
"I'll go shopping tomorrow; I just really want to get back home." Sam sighed and rolled her eyes as Lexy ignored her and got out of the car anyway. She returned with a wheelchair and received a death glare for her trouble.  
"Could have at least got me an electric one." She sulked, resigning herself to her fate as Lexy helped her out of the car.

The young doctor knew Sam was in a lot of pain, and was already exhausted just from the trip to the car, so she decided to make it a quick shop, just grabbing the essentials like bread and milk, some chilled ready meals and some fresh fruit and veg. Sam threw in a few extras like crisps and biscuits and Lexy got the feeling she was planning on living on crap rather than cooking anything for herself. They were halfway down the frozen aisle when they bumped in to Tess and Ed. "Oh my god! Sam! I didn't know you were getting out today! How are you?" For all she was asking after Sam her attention was firmly on Lexy.  
"Good, thanks. Just a bit sore, and losing my pride being pushed around in this thing."  
"Come on, you love it, especially the wheelies!" Lexy teased, earning a scowl from Sam and laughter from Tess. "We should get going, Sam's due her next lot pills soon."  
"Oh, of course." Tess' face fell a little. "We'll have to come over and see you sometime, when you're up to it. Or you could come over for tea at ours-"  
"I'm sure Sam needs her rest." Ed helpfully pointed out before Tess could start babbling. "Watch what you're doing Sam. I hope you feel better soon."  
"Thanks Ed. Thanks Tess."

Sam waited until they were out of the supermarket and back in the car before she turned to Lexy with a smirk. "So how long has Tess had a crush on you?" The younger woman rolled her eyes as she concentrated on pulling out of the car park without hitting an elderly woman pushing an overflowing trolley in the middle of the road.  
"Shut up."  
"She so does!" Sam objected, clearly amused by the other woman's discomfort at the idea. "Tess is…nice."  
"Not my type." Lexy shrugged, not liking where the conversation was heading. She expected Sam's next question but still rolled her eyes again.  
"So what is your type?"  
"I don't know really." Lexy shrugged and added with a chuckle. "Nutter's normally. I just don't believe in pissing where I sleep. Or in this case, fucking."  
"Sound logic."

When they pulled up outside Sam's flat Lexy helped her up the stairs, her arm wrapped firmly around the other woman's waist as they took it one step at a time. Once Sam was settled on the sofa Lexy went back down for the shopping. It took two trips to get all the bags up and she put the kettle on the boil as she put the shopping away and then made Sam a sandwich for lunch. "I could get used to this." Sam joked as she lay propped up on the sofa with her feet up and the young doctor fussing over her. "You don't have to be stuck here all day you know, I'm sure you've got stuff to do."  
"Actually I don't. It's very tragic. So if you don't mind I'll keep you company for a bit longer." She wasn't just trying to spend time with the other woman, she could see Sam was struggling to cope with the pain in her ribs and she didn't fancy leaving her to fend for herself.  
"No. I don't mind. Especially if you keep making me tea."


	4. Chapter 4

"Shouldn't you be getting to work soon?" Sam quizzed as she caught sight of the clock on the wall. It was around the time Lexy usually left to start her shift. They were still sat on the sofa and had been watching rubbish television all night. Sam had her legs tucked under her while Lexy's were propped up on the coffee table. Cat had always gone mad whenever Sam had put her feet up on it. "Nah, it's my night off."  
"You're night off? And you've been stuck here with me all day? You should have said."  
"Had nothing better to do." She tried for a nonchalant shrug, like she hadn't been ecstatic when Sam had said she could stay.

"Come off it, you're twenty-six and it's a Saturday night, you should be out partying…I'm sure Tess would be up for it." Sam teased her, laughing as the younger woman went red again.  
"Shut up, she does not fancy me! Tess is just…friendly." Lexy burst out laughing herself as Sam started sniggering at her turn of phrase.  
"Oh yeah, _real _friendly!"  
"Please, I think sleeping with one flatmate is bad enough, I'm not looking for the full set."

Lexy realised her mistake the second the words were out of her mouth and Sam lost her smile. Her gaze shifted awkwardly as she fidgeted with the half full tea cup in her hand. "Why do I get the feeling you're not talking about Sadie?" The Australian suddenly felt like a naughty school girl being told off by the head as she dropped her own gaze and stared at the coloured stripes on her socks instead.  
"It was ages ago. Not long after I moved up here actually. I met Frankie in a bar, I was young free and single and thought what the hell, you know?"  
"Personally I don't see the attraction." Sam huffed and Lexy could see her sinking back in to the funk she had been in since Cat's death. She reached over and placed her hand on the older woman's knee. Sam flinched at the contact and Lexy felt her stomach tighten.  
"Cat chose you though, didn't she? In the end, that's all that matters."

She pulled her hand back as Sam sat staring at it and eventually nodded her head. "I guess she did." She didn't exactly sound convinced about that, though Lexy knew better than to push it and changed the subject to something less controversial instead. "So where are you from anyway? You don't sound very Scottish."  
"Bradford." Sam answered though she still looked preoccupied by their last conversation. "I was seeing a colleague and I had a pretty messy break up. Needed to get away and Glasgow seemed just about far enough."  
"I hear that." Lexy sighed as she sipped at her tea, wishing it was a nice cold beer. She knew all too well how relationships with colleagues could quickly turn sour when they ended.  
"How about you?" Sam quizzed, the detective in her coming out. She seemed to have forgotten about whatever was preoccupying her before.

"After I graduated I moved to London and started working at The Royal. I stayed there for a couple of years and just got bored I guess. I get restless easily; don't like to stay in one place for too long."  
"So how long are you planning on staying in Glasgow?" Sam asked and Lexy really hoped she wasn't imagining the edge to her voice. "Because I'm sure Tess would be gutted if you left." She smirked at her and Lexy felt her own lips curling in to a smile. Something told her Tess wouldn't be the only one to miss her.  
"Who knows? I guess I'll wait and see if anything holds my interest." She shrugged and her shoulders rubbed against the blanket on the back of the sofa. She guessed Sam had spent more than a few nights on it with the hours she kept at work.

The sofa proved to be a little comfortable for the exhausted doctor who between working and visiting Sam had spent the better part of three weeks living at the hospital. She'd been lying with her head on the arm of the chair and her legs tucked under her for a while without saying a word and when Sam looked over at her at the end of the film they'd been watching she found her fast asleep. Her eyes were closed and her chest was rising and falling in a soft rhythm. "Lex?" She called out to check she was actually sleeping. When she got no response she pulled herself up on to her feet.

Sam winced as she gently eased Lexy's legs down so she was lying stretched out on the sofa. Her ribs were aching from sitting curled up for so long and she was overdue some painkillers. She pulled the blanket down from the back of the sofa and draped it over the younger woman before shuffling over to the sink where her pills were all set out on the bench. Lexy had already separated them in to a pill box that had four sections for each day and the times for each were clearly marked. She'd missed them earlier but hadn't really felt the pain in her side until she'd got to her feet. Downing the handful of pills with a glass of water she glanced over for one last check on Lexy before turning out the light and slowly making her way to her room.

She was glad to finally be back in her own bed as she crawled under the covers and lay on her back, trying to get her breath back. The pressure in her chest still left her out of breath with the slightest of movements. It had been a long day and her impromptu trip to the supermarket had left her a lot more sore and tired than she had let on to Lexy; she had been touched by the younger woman's concern though and in all honesty she had been glad she had stayed to keep her company. She'd grown used to having the Australian around. Even before her attack she had been spending a bit more time running than she used to. Lexy was a good distraction from all the crap that had been going on lately; though if Sam was honest the other woman was a little _too _distracting at times. She was smart and funny, and just about the only person who had managed to draw a smile from her in the weeks after Cat's death.

"Fuck." Sam cursed as she lay in the dark, staring up at the ceiling and trying not to think about the woman asleep on her sofa. She knew she was going to have to start to put some distance between them, she was growing dangerously dependant on having the younger woman around and she really wasn't the type of person who liked to be dependent on others. She fell in to a fitful sleep, the pain in her side waking her every so often until the pills finally kicked in and she dropped off to sleep.

When Lexy opened her eyes and found herself lying on the sofa it wasn't the first time in her life she had woken up unsure of where she was, but it was the first time it had happened without her feeling hungover. She sat up and blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes used to the darkness. As she began to wake up properly she remembered where she was. She recognised the blanket thrown over her as the one that had been on the back of the sofa. She was at Sam's flat. Happy with where she was she let herself lie back down and relax in to the soft cushions.

"Lexy!" Her eyes darted open again as she heard Sam shouting and realised that had been what had woken her. She dived off the sofa and followed the other woman's shouts along the hall and in to one of the bedrooms.  
"Jesus, Sam!" She dropped to her knees by the bed where she found the other woman lying on the floor, clutching her side and groaning in pain. Her face was contorted with agony as Lexy slipped an arm around her waist and slowly helped her back on to the bed. She bit her lip to keep from screaming out as she lay on her back and Lexy pressed her fingers in to her side, checking to see if the skin felt crunchy, a sign she had fractured her rib again. "Nothing feels broken, but I don't like how shallow your breathing is, it can lead to a build-up mucous which could cause pneumonia. I think we'd best get you checked out. I'll call an ambulance-"

"No!" Sam reached out to grab her phone out of her hand but a searing pain shot through her chest and she dropped her arm straight back down and cried out. She gritted her teeth together as another aftershock of pain rippled through her body. She was breathing hard as she lay on her back with Lexy hovering over her, unsure whether to phone an ambulance or not. "I'm just winded is all. I fell out of bed…not used to the rail not being there I guess." She tried to laugh but it turned in to a whimper as the action tightened her chest. "Please, Lexy. I'm fine, honest."

She looked far from fine, but Lexy was confident nothing was broken and she didn't want to go against the other woman's wishes so she reluctantly agreed and sat her phone down on the bedside table. "Fine, but if you're not breathing deep enough in the morning then I'm taking you in, deal?"  
"Deal." Sam reluctantly agreed, already trying to deepen her breathing despite the immense pain in her side. The doctor looked less than convinced but she let it go and concentrated on getting Sam comfortable again. "Where are you going?" she frowned as Lexy left the room. She came back carrying the two seat cushions from the sofa and she plonked them down on the floor beside Sam's bed.  
"Something softer to land on." The Australian explained and then went back to the living room again. She returned with two of the smaller cushions and tucked them in to Sam's good side to stop her from rolling out of bed again.

"This reminds me of the last time I shared a bed with my ex, Tom." Sam joked as Lexy took one of the pillows that had been Cat's and gently pressed it in to the other side of her. "Wouldn't let him near me so I kept tucking the pillows between us."  
"Are you telling me you're not a gold star lesbian DS Murray?" Lexy teased she picked the discarded duvet up from the floor and draped it over Sam before tucking it in at the sides, effectively pinning her in place.  
"I didn't come out till I was twenty-four. I'd been with Tom since uni, we were engaged and everything…then I joined the force and I fell for my partner. We kissed one night and that was it, I was a goner… She really opened my eyes." There was an unmistakable sadness to Sam's voice as she spoke about her first girlfriend; yet another woman she had lost from her life, though admittedly in less extreme circumstances.

"Twenty-four?" Lexy did what she did best and tried to lighten the mood. She sat on the end of the bed with her legs crossed as she regaled Sam with the memory of her first kiss. "God, I remember my first kiss with a girl, Sophie Allison! She was a few years older, absolutely gorgeous, and she had _the _shortest skirt in school! We used to walk home together and I had the biggest crush on her. I kissed her and she freaked out. It wasn't that she wasn't in to girls, she'd snogged loads, I was just too young for her." Lexy shrugged like it was no big deal.  
"How old were you?" Sam quizzed.  
"Twelve."

"Twelve?" Sam repeated, shocked by her answer. "When I was twelve I was still climbing trees and playing football…"  
"And it took you until your twenties to realise you were gay?" Lexy shot back with a smirk. Sam half-heartedly threw one of the pillows from down by her side at the younger woman, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips. Lexy dutifully fetched the pillow and tucked it back under the covers. Her hand brushed against Sam's arm and the mood shifted as an uneasy silence descended on them. Lexy cleared her throat as she took a step back and shoved her hands in to the pockets of her jeans.

"I'll stay over, just in case you fall out again or your breathing gets worse."  
"Thanks." Sam nodded and managed a weak smile. She suddenly realised the younger woman had pulled the sofa apart and had nowhere to sleep. "Um…you can sleep in here if you want…I mean the couch won't be much more comfortable than the floor now." So much for getting some distance from the other woman.  
"Uh…yeah, ok. Thanks." Lexy mumbled, seemingly a little uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a bed. She pulled off her shirt, thankful she had put on a vest underneath it. She usually hated sleeping in anything, but she wasn't sure Sam would appreciate her sleeping in the nude. She pulled off her socks but kept her jeans on. Sam noticed and nodded towards the set of drawers in the corner.  
"There's some pyjamas in there that should fit if you want?"

Lexy pulled out a pair of shorts and shimmied out of her jeans. With her back to Sam she didn't notice the older woman glancing over at her. The detective bit her lip as she rolled over on to her good side and cuddled in to the cushions. It had been almost two months since she had shared a bed with anyone, but she wasn't about to force Lexy to spend the night on cushion-less sofa after all she had done for her.

Lexy lay on the other side of the bed, as far over from Sam as she could get without actually falling out of the bed. It took her a long time to get back to sleep as she was still hyped up from finding Sam on the floor and she tensed every time she felt the other woman move or heard her hiss out in pain. There was also the small matter of sharing a bed with a woman she had a crush on. She hadn't shared a bed with another woman and not fucked her in years.

She felt like a horny teenager as she lay on the edge of the bed trying to ignore the fact that Sam's bare leg was pressing against her own. The other woman had finally stopped fidgeting and fallen asleep. Lexy lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling and willing herself to get to sleep.

Sometime in the early hours of the morning she must have fallen asleep, because she woke up tangled in the sheets with her head on Sam's pillow. Luckily for her Sam was nowhere in sight and she had the bed to herself. She wrestled her desire to stay in bed with her need to check on Sam and the later won. Dragging herself out of bed she padded in to the living area of the flat in search of the other woman. She frowned as she found her by the oven, standing over a pan on the hob.

"Breakfast is almost done." Sam had heard her come in but didn't turn to acknowledge her. There was strain in her voice that probably had something to do with waking up in the same bed as Lexy. The Australian prayed to god that she hadn't been drooling on her pillow or something when Sam had woken up.  
"You should have woke me, I could have made something."  
"It's fine." Sam finally glanced over at her and the awkwardness increased as her attention snapped back to the frying pan.

Lexy was leaning against the bench, her tank top riding up from the way she was standing and her long tanned legs crossed in front of her. Her hair was loose and tussled from sleeping and had Sam been in any fit state she probably would have crossed the kitchen in two long strides, pushed her up on to the bench and wrapped those long legs around her waist.

She made sure her eyes were firmly fixed elsewhere as she plated up the fry up she'd cooked. "I'll get those." Lexy brushed past her to pick up the two plates and carry them to the table.  
"It's fine." Sam snapped a little more tersely than she had intended. If Lexy noticed she didn't comment. Sam sighed as she took a seat at the table. "I'm sorry, I'm just used to doing everything for myself, you know?"

Lexy nodded in agreement as her mouth was full of toast. "I get that, but you need to take it easy for a while." She replied once she'd swallowed. "That said, you need to keep moving too. I was thinking we could go for a walk, nothing too strenuous; it'll be a while before you're running up hills again-"  
"I'm actually pretty sore today. I was thinking of just hanging out in front of the telly today."  
"Oh, yeah, no problem." Lexy couldn't deny she was a little disappointed at getting the brush off, but she understood the other woman needed her own space after weeks of living in the hospital with doctors and nurses telling her what to do all day.

"Maybe tomorrow?" Sam suggested when Lexy fell silent, though inside she was mentally berating herself. Her plan to put some distance between herself and the younger woman was failing miserably. She'd just been eyeing her up and imagining taking her on the kitchen counter. She was supposed to be mourning Cat, not lusting after Australian doctors, and she didn't want Lexy getting the wrong idea either. The last thing she needed was to complicate their friendship.  
"Sure." Lexy nodded and some of the tension between them slipped away; but not all of it. "I'm gonna finish this and shoot off, but if you need anything just give me a call okay?"  
"I will." Sam promised, though deep down she knew she wouldn't. She needed time to sort her head out; something she was finding impossible to do with Lexy around.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on Sam, not much further!" Lexy smirked as she turned around and found the other woman had slumped on to the bench she had just strode past. It had been a week since Sam had been released from the hospital and she had finally given in and agreed to go out for a walk with the younger woman. They hadn't even been powerwalking and it was certainly a far cry from her usual running pace. Though her ribs were healing well Sam had quickly gotten out of breath and had to sit down.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" She gasped as she struggled to get her breathing under control. She was usually the one goading the Australian in to carrying on.  
"A little." Lexy admitted though she lost her smirk as she knelt down in front of the other woman, recognising she was in distress. "Take deep breaths. In to your hands, that's it." She put her hand on her back and rubbed it in slow circles. Far from helping Sam's breathing it was making it worse as she panicked at the contact. She'd only seen the younger woman a handful of times over the week, making excused every time Lexy had suggested meeting up. Sam shrugged her concern off, trying to get control.  
"I'm fine." She unscrewed the cap of the water bottle in her hands and sat up right to bring it to her lips, discreetly brushing Lexy's hand off her back.

The younger woman took a seat beside her on the bench and unscrewed her own water, though the brisk walk had barely fazed her. Giving up smoking and running with Sam had helped her get back in to shape over the months, though she was still nowhere near as fit as Sam had been before her attack. "How are you doing? Chest easing up?" Sam nodded in response, but she was still holding her ribs. She was still being treated at the hospital as an outpatient and receiving physiotherapy, but the pain was getting easier and she had even spoken to her boss about going back to work; though she would be restricted to desk duties until she was fit again.

Lexy's phone went off for the third time since she'd turned up at Sam's flat and Sam watched her reject the call as she had done with the other two. She seemed distracted every time the phone went off and the detective in Sam knew there was something to it. "Everything ok?"  
"Peachy." Lexy huffed as she shoved her phone back in to her pocket. "I keep getting these strange phone calls, it's nothing."  
"Well they're clearly upsetting you-"  
"It's nothing I can't handle, ok? Now come on you, if you can make it to the coffee shop I'll buy you a Danish."  
"I don't think I can make it. You go on without me." Sam slumped further down on the bench. The younger woman rolled her eyes at her before taking her hand.  
"Move it Murray."

Sam slowly got to her feet, letting her hand linger in Lexy's a little longer than she should have. "Fine, but I want two danishes, and one of them had better be a cinnamon swirl!" The detective pouted, earning a smile from the other woman.  
"You'll get what you're given young lady!" She smirked as they slowly made their way to the coffee shop. Sam rolled her eyes at her, but she was smiling at least.

Her smile grew even wider when Lexy returned from the counter with a plate full of assorted pastries. "You do know I'm going to double in size if I don't get back to running soon." She pointed out as she helped herself to the cinnamon swirl Lexy had made sure to put on the top of the pile.  
"I'm sure you'll burn it off some other way." Lexy internally cursed herself as Sam almost choked on the pastry.  
"Fuck, I didn't mean…yoga!" She felt her cheeks growing red as she practically shouted the last word, attracting more than one curious glance in the busy café. "You could do yoga?" She added in a quieter voice as Sam chuckled at her. She picked up her glass of coke trying to hide her red face behind it.

"I don't think I'd be any good at yoga." Sam replied with a straight face as she picked at a sticky bun. "I've never been very flexible." Lexy choked on her drink, coughing and spluttering as her coke went down the wrong way and ended up in her lungs. She was once again the centre of attention in the crowded café. Calmly taking another drink of her coke she decided to give as good as she got.  
"Really? I've never had that particular problem myself." Sam chuckled again and smirked as she carried on picking at her pastry. They silently called a truce and carried on with their breakfast without further incident.

"What time are you working today?" Sam quizzed once enough time had passed for both of them to get over their embarrassment. There was a dusting of sugar on her lower lip that Lexy found her eyes glued to. She was pretty sure she could get arrested for something or other if she leant over the table and sucked Sam's lip between her own.  
"Huh? Oh, I'm not. I've got the week off." She shrugged. It had nothing to do with Sam's injury, she'd booked the week off months earlier; though she was trying to think of a way to spend time helping Sam without patronising her. "I'm trying to stay out of the flat as much as I can. Sadie's bringing randoms around all the time and Tess keeps making me breakfast…"

"What's wrong with that?" Sam frowned, not quite following her. She knew the blonde was sweet on the young Australian and she could hardly blame her.  
"_Every_morning. I told her I thought she made good scrambled egg and I've been living on it for a week!" She scoffed, laughing along with Sam as the detective couldn't hold back her own laughter. "She made lasagne last night and asked what I thought of it…I was too frightened to bloody say anything!"

Sam held her side as her laughter began to border on being painful. The younger woman never failed to make her smile or to draw a laugh from her, even on some of her darkest days since Cat's death Lexy had been the one to reach her. She'd tried to avoid Lexy since she'd left the hospital, but she had to admit she felt better with her around. She'd been slowly slipping back in to her depression in the week she'd spent avoiding her and had suffered from several panic attacks. It seemed going completely cold turkey from the young doctor's company wasn't going to work. "Why don't you come over for dinner tonight? I promise not to make scrambled egg."  
"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

"Don't thank me yet, you haven't tried my cooking." Sam smirked back, enjoying how easy things could be between them when she allowed herself to relax a little. Sure, she was attracted to the younger woman, but that didn't mean she had to act on that attraction, and for all Lexy seemed to flirt she was friendly with everyone. It would just be a simple dinner between friends. It didn't have to mean anything.  
"Tell you what, I'll cook. I make a mean spaghetti carbonara." Lexy shot her a wink and Sam felt the muscles in her stomach tightening again. She couldn't have another panic attack, not in front of the doctor. She'd assured her she'd gotten them under control.  
"Sounds good." She forced her voice to sound normal as her lips formed a tight smile.

Had Lexy's phone not gone off again she might have picked up on the other woman's unease, but as it was she pulled her phone out and let out an exasperated sigh at the sight of 'private number' flashing up on the screen. "Hello?" She answered it, knowing full well no one would answer on the other end. "Hello? Look this is getting really old-" She trailed off as the caller hung up. "Mother fucker." Lexy grumbled as and sighed in to her hand. The calls were becoming almost daily in frequency. Sam slipped in to detective mode with ease, like it was a second skin she could just pull on. Her expression turned serious.  
"How often are you getting these calls?"

Lexy shrugged as she slumped forward, resting her chin on her arms on the table in front of her. Her phone was still grasped in her hand. "Four maybe five times a week?"  
"Do you ever hear anything? A voice? Heavy breathing-"  
"Eugh." Lexy shuddered at the thought of some sick perv breathing down the phone at her. "No, nothing like that. I don't hear anything…it's nothing, really, they're just annoying." She tried to act like the calls weren't spooking her, but the more frequent they became the more unnerved she was getting. The hand that held her phone was shaking.

Sam reached over and placed a hand on top of Lexy's trembling hand, squeezing it lightly for reassurance. "Start keeping a log of these calls, what time they happen, what you can hear, you might pick up on a pattern that could help identify who it is that's calling-" Lexy couldn't help but smile, despite her anxiety there was something alluring about the way Sam was intently focusing on her and the way she knitted her brow in concentration as she discussed what the other woman could do to protect herself.

"Keep your phone on you at all times, if you're out late at night let someone know where you're going-"  
"Ok, now you're spooking me more than the calls." She cut the other woman off. "Like I said, they're nothing. Come on, we'll get you home and you can do your physio while I go shopping for dinner."  
"You really are trying to kill me, aren't you?" Sam grumbled as she got to her feet. Her ribs felt stiff and sore for sitting for so long and it would take a while for her to walk it off.  
"You sound like you've tried my cooking before."

For all Lexy made fun of her own culinary skills she was actually pretty good in the kitchen. Years of cooking with her grandmother back home had honed her skills and she was like a woman on a mission as she fussed about in Sam's kitchen, chopping up vegetables and stirring her sauce. "You're sure I can't help?" Sam quizzed as she hovered by the fridge, trying to lean casually against the bench with a beer in her hand, hiding the pain in her side.  
"Yes, I'm sure. Now go sit down before you hurt yourself!" Lexy waved her over to the sofa and Sam reluctantly did as she was told. "It shouldn't be too much longer."  
"Good, I'm starved."  
"You ate like four pastries this morning!" Lexy picked up her beer and joined her on the sofa. "Your metabolism must be through the roof!"  
""What can I say? I'm fit." Sam smirked over her beer. She'd tried to cut back on her pain medication but there was still enough in her system to mix with the beer, giving her a bit of a buzz. She knew she was on dangerous ground flirting with the other woman, but things just kept slipping out of her mouth.

"Another few weeks of eating crap and not running and I'd beg to differ." Lexy teased. She sat her beer down on the coffee table, an inch away from the coaster. Cat would have done her nut if Sam had done that; except Cat wasn't there anymore. She was dead. Sam couldn't dwell on it for too long as the young Doctor bounced back to her feet. "Shit, I forgot to put the garlic bread in!"

She carried on fussing around in the kitchen for another ten minutes before she finally sat two plates down on the kitchen table. "This is good!" Sam complimented between mouthfuls.  
"You sound shocked." Lexy shot back, though she was grinning at the other woman's compliment. "My gran taught me how to Cook. She makes amazing cookies; you can try one the next time she sends some over."  
"One cookie?"  
"Well maybe two…if you're running again. Better keep up with that physio to get back on your feet… that is if you want the cookies?"  
"You do know it's illegal to bribe an officer of the law, don't you?" Sam's lips curled up in to a smile as she tore off bits of garlic bread.  
"Why yes _detective, _I did. Thank you…so listen I've got this parking fine and the cookies _really_ are good-"  
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"So what made you want to be a cop anyway?" Lexy quizzed. Amazingly in the months since she'd first met Sam she'd never asked her about her line of work. The detective shrugged in reply, evading the question.  
"What made you want to be a doctor?"  
"God complex." Lexy shot back without missing a beat as Sam snorted in to her beer. "So come on, why the police?"  
"Same reason I presume you wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to help people…also there was the power trip from wearing the uniform." Lexy brought her beer to her lips as she tried not to let her imagination run wild with thoughts of Sam in uniform; otherwise the detective would be arresting her for something, and it wouldn't be for _bribing_an officer.

"Oh no, mine was _all _about the uniform. Blue scrubs really do it for me."  
"I'll bet." Sam chuckled as she finished off her beer. She took out another one from the fridge while Lexy cleared the empty plates from the table. "Let me do those, you cooked-"  
"Don't be stupid, go sit down with your beer…and not too many of those, they don't mix well with your pain meds."  
"Oi, I don't see your scrubs now doctor." Sam knew she was right, she was already starting to feel buzzed after one beer, but never one to be told what to do she took a deliberate swig of the bottle, taunting the good doctor. Lexy didn't back down either though and she swiped the bottle from Sam's hands. She downed it before handing it back to Sam with a smirk.

"You're so Australian." Sam shook her head as she went back to the fridge and took out another two bottles. She popped off both of the caps before handing one to the other woman.  
"That's so racist!" Lexy shot back, taking a smaller drink from the second bottle before she put it back down on the bench and carried on washing the dishes in the sink. The last time she'd downed a beer so fast she had been in med school and Sam wasn't the only one feeling buzzed.

Lexy frowned as her phone started going off in her pocket. She had her hands in a sink full of water and couldn't find where she'd left the towel. "Can you?" Sam obliged and pulled the other woman's mobile out of her pocket. Lexy tensed as her fingers brushed the top of her thigh and she was grateful she was wearing sweat pants and not jeans. Sam frowned at the unregistered number and answered for her.  
"This is DS Murray-" She started, but faltered as an elderly woman answered her, panic in her voice. "What? No ma'am, no she's absolutely fine…I just picked up the wrong phone. I'll put her on." Sam's cheeks were red as she waited for Lexy to dry her hands and take the phone.  
"Hello? Oh, hey Gran." Lexy smirked at Sam. "No, I'm not in trouble. Sam's a friend of mine. Yes Gran, a friend." It was Lexy's turn to blush as her grandmother gave her the third degree about the woman who had answered her phone.

Sam carried on drinking her beer as Lexy took the phone call. When she finally hung up half an hour later Sam was on to her third beer and Lexy's ear was aching. "So my gran thinks I've been arrested."  
"That's ok, tell her to send cookies and I'll drop the charges."  
"What charges?"  
"Theft…Stealing my beer." Sam informed her in a very matter of fact tone, even if her words were slightly slurred.  
"This beer?" Lexy teased as she snatched the bottle out of Sam's hand. She took a swig before holding it high up above her head as Sam reached for it.  
"Oi!"

She tried to wrestle the bottle out of Lexy's hand but her coordination was off and she somehow ended up with her hand clamped around Lexy's wrist and her lips pressed against hers. Lexy stopped dead. She stopped trying to struggle and suddenly her lips were moving against Sam's. The detective felt a fire in her belly that she hadn't felt in months as she kissed back; if only for a moment.

The glass bottle in Lexy's hand slipped free, dropping to the floor with a thud. The noise startled them both and Sam pulled away so quickly she pulled one of the already strained muscles in her side. "Fuck." She cursed loudly as she clutched her side and clenched her teeth. Lexy jumped to her feet and picked up the bottle before it could spill all over the place. Once it was righted she turned her attention to Sam.

"Shit, are you ok? Just breathe. Take deep breaths-" Sam tensed as Lexy's hands found their way to her knees as she knelt down in front of her.  
"I'm fine." She choked out through the pain, even though she could feel her panic beginning to well up. She was going to have another attack, make even more of a fool of herself in front of the other woman. Her chest felt tight and her breath was coming out in short rasps.  
"Sam, listen to me, you need to take deep breaths."

The other woman shook her head, trying to push Lexy away. She couldn't be next to the young doctor. She had kissed her. Cat had barely been in the ground three months and she had kissed another woman. It was wrong. So wrong. "I…" She gasped, unable to get her words out; not that she knew what to say to her anyway.

Lexy ignored her protests and brought her hands up to Sam's face, cupping them together so she could breathe in to them. It would force her to take deeper breaths and stop her hyperventilating. Sam stopped fighting her and did as she was told. They sat there for a good five minutes with Lexy's hands cupped in front of her face whilst Sam calmed down. Once she was sure the other woman was ok she let her hands drop. "I should go."

Sam didn't argue with her. She nodded her head, unable to look the younger woman in the eye. "Sam I-" Lexy started, she knew that the kiss had been the cause of Sam's panic attack and she desperately wanted to be able to say something to her that would make everything ok, that would save their fragile friendship; but there was nothing she _could_ say. Sam on the other hand finally found her voice.  
"Go…please."


	6. Chapter 6

"_Hi, you've reached the voicemail of DS Sam Murray, leave a message and I'll call you back."_

"Fuck!" Lexy cursed as she reached Sam's voicemail for the second time that morning. She hung up and pocketed her phone as Declan approached her. She rolled her eyes, not in the mood for another discussion about Sexray. Unfortunately he chose the very last thing she wanted a conversation about.  
"Hot-cop still not answering? Have you tried getting arrested? That might get her attention." It had been almost a week since Lexy had gone over to Sam's flat for dinner and the other woman had been ignoring her ever since.  
"Helpful Declan, real helpful. How's your love life doctor Love? Still being ignored by that prick in x-ray?"  
"Ah, Lex." Declan made a slicing motion across his throat, asking her to be silent.  
"What? He is a prick, lording about the place like he's too good to even speak. You want my advice Declan? Move on, find someone who doesn't look at you like you're something he's just stepped in-"  
"Lexy!" Declan snapped, his eyes wide and his cheeks red as he nodded towards her.

Lexy stopped her tirade and stared at her best friend in horror. "He's behind me isn't he?" Declan confirmed it with a slight nod of his head.  
"Fuck." Holding her head up high Lexy turned around to face the frowning radiologist with his arms crossed over his chest. "Afternoon Doctor, lovely weather we're having." Lexy forced a smile as she walked past him and hurried down the corridor, leaving Declan to handle the other doctor.

She ducked in to an empty examination room and dialled Sam's number again. This time she was fed up of just getting through to her voicemail and she actually left a message. "Hey Sam, it's me…again. About the other night…we can get over this right? We'd both been drinking and you're on some really strong pills… look, just call me back, even if it's only to tell me you're not lying dead in a ditch somewhere." She hung up again and checked the coast was clear before she slipped out of the treatment room and headed home.

She was glad to find Tess and Sadie were both out of the flat when she finally got home. There was a pile of mail waiting for her on her bed as well as a package. She disregarded the letters and went straight for the package wrapped in brown paper and tied together with string, knowing exactly what it would be. She smiled as she lifted the lid of the cardboard box she'd just unwrapped and peered inside. _Perfect. _

"One more and we're done." The physiotherapist guiding Sam's arm up above her head encouraged her to lift it as high as she comfortably could. It was her second physio session to exercise the muscles in her chest and it had been more gruelling than the first, reaffirming Sam's belief that every doctor she knew was trying to kill her. With her arm finally back down by her side she let out a heavy sigh and slumped back against the hard plastic chair she was sitting in. "That's great work Sam. We'll schedule another session next week, just make an appointment at the reception." He handed her over a letter to give in at reception for an appointment.

Sam thanked the young woman and shrugged on her jacket before making her way out of the room and over to the reception desk. The boy sitting behind the desk looked barely out of high school. His platinum blonde hair was spiked up with gel and he had a diamond stud in each ear. There was a doctor leaning against the counter, openly flirting with the young receptionist. "Excuse me." Sam cleared her throat to get the receptionist's attention. He looked up at her like she was something he'd just stepped in and Sam felt her hackles rising.

"Can you wait a minute _miss?"  
_"Actually it's _Detective Sergeant,_ and no, I can't." She slammed the letter down on the desk, making the young man jump.  
"Sergeant Murray, isn't it?" The doctor who had been leaning on the counter addressed her and it took her a moment to place him. He'd been the doctor who'd seen to her in the A&E the night she'd been attacked. She'd been in and out of consciousness, but she recognised his face. She'd seen him with Lexy a few times too.  
"Declan, right?"

"Yeah that's right, Paul can you make an appointment for the sergeant here please?" He turned a charming smile on the young man who obediently began typing on his computer to make her next appointment. "How are those ribs of yours? Lexy said you were on the mend, but she hasn't seen you for a few days." Sam's job required her to be good at reading people and everything about Declan, from his tone of voice, to his inquisitive smile, told her he knew exactly what was going on between her and Lexy.

"I'm fine. Just focusing on getting back to work."  
"That's good." Declan smiled at her, his gaze probing as the receptionist handed over Sam's appointment card. "Maybe you could give Lexy a call though; she's been pretty worried about you."  
"Look Declan, that's between me and Lexy ok? No one else." She snatched her appointment card from the platinum haired boy and marched out, her pride stopping her from clutching her side until she was out of Declan's sight.

She knew he was right. Lexy was a good friend, and it was Sam's mistake that had landed them in the awkward place they'd found themselves in. The doctor had done nothing but try and help her, and even after Sam had kissed her and thrown her out of her house she had still been trying to call her to check up on her. As she pulled her phone out of her jacket she found she had two missed calls and a voicemail. All from Lexy. With a weary sigh she listened to the voicemail. Once it was finished playing she wrestled with herself over whether or not to call her back. Eventually she decided against it and pocketed her phone again.

With her limited movement and the pain medication she was taking she still wasn't allowed to drive, so she took a taxi home. She frowned as she found a package sitting outside of her front door. She grimaced as she bent down to retrieve it from the floor and shoved her key in the lock. There was mail on the mat inside and she had to bend down for that too. She shrugged off her coat and tossed it across the back of the sofa before she sat the cardboard box and the rest of the mail down on the table and prised open the lid. She smiled absently as she picked up the handwritten note inside. The almost illegible scrawl could only belong to a doctor, '_Gran's finest, as promised. L.'_

Sam didn't need to be a detective sergeant to know who the cookies inside were from. She took a bite of one before she took out her phone and tried to ring Lexy. The phone rang and rang before it went straight through to voicemail. It seemed she was getting her own back on Sam. "Fuck." She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair and finished her cookie. She had been ignoring the other woman for almost a week and when she did finally want to talk to her she wasn't answering her phone.

After a quick change of clothes she grabbed a few things and headed over to the flat Lexy shared with Tess and Sadie. When she knocked Tess answered the door, and as always she looked unsure of what to say or do. She'd been on edge with the detective ever since Cat's death and something in her gut told Sam that there was more to it than the fact that they had only been friends through Cat. Tess had always been bubbly and friendly with her, even when Cat hadn't been around. "Sam…Hi." She forced a smile and stood with her hand on the side of the door, blocking Sam from entering.  
"Hey Tess. Is Lexy home?"  
"Uh, yeah. She's just in the bath…you can come in and wait if you like? She's been in there for ages anyway." Tess finally stepped aside to let her in, but stepped out of the door herself. "I was just going out…Late rehearsal. Help yourself to tea!"

Sam stared dumbstruck at the closed front door. Tess' behaviour was getting even stranger. Brushing it off she went in to the living room to wait for Lexy, glad Sadie was nowhere in sight. She sat for twenty minutes before she got restless and went back out to the hallway to knock on the bathroom door. Her hand hovered in front of the door before it dropped back to her side. "Sod it." She shook her head and turned to leave.  
"Sam?"

She spun around as she heard Lexy's voice and found her standing by her bedroom door. Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, soaking wet, and she was wearing a vest and shorts that left little to the imagination. "What are you doing here?" Her arms folded over her chest as she waited for the other woman to answer her.  
"I uh…I got your message. I tried your phone, but you were busy…obviously." Sam faltered, struggling to hold Lexy's gaze. She couldn't say what she had to say next if she was staring at the younger woman's legs. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry…I acted like a dick and I'm sorry. You've been nothing but a good _friend_ to me."  
"Sam, I-"

She tried to interrupt but Sam wouldn't let her. "I really needed a friend, after everything with Cat, and then the attack…I appreciate everything you've done for me, I really do. I want us to be friends Lexy, but I don't want you to get the wrong idea-"  
"Sam." Lexy finally cut her off. "It's fine. Friends. I get it." The Australian smiled, she would take friendship over being ignored all together any day. "What's that?" She quizzed as she noticed the Tupperware tub in the detective's hand. Sam looked down at the tub as though she'd forgotten it was there.  
"Oh, here." She took a tentative step forward and offered the tub to Lexy. The Australian took it with an inquisitive smile and peered inside. "You were right, you're Gran's cookies are delicious. I thought you might want some for yourself."  
"Thanks…do you want a cup of tea or something?"  
"No, I should get back. Ryder's coming over later…how about lunch, tomorrow? My treat."  
"Sure. That'd be nice."

Once Sam had said her goodbyes she called a taxi, Lexy offered to drive her but Sam insisted on taking a taxi. When she got back to her flat she checked the rest of the mail on her table. A padded envelope held her attention and she opened it first. She pulled out a letter and a flash of something at the bottom of the envelope caught her eye. She tipped it over the table and frowned as a small gold bangle dropped on to the table. She turned to the letter, looking for an explanation. It was from Cat's mother. Her frown deepened as she read one line over and over again.

'_Cat was wearing it, and we thought it was obviously a gift from you so we've decided to return it….'_

Sam picked up the bangle and inspected it closely. It wasn't something she recognised. She'd never seen her wear it before, so like Cat's mother she presumed it had been a birthday gift. She turned it over in her hands until she noticed something on the inside, two letters that twisted her stomach in knots and sent bile rising up her throat, much as finding the hidden lump of carved wood in Cat's drawer had.

As the world around her came crashing down she glanced up and saw the picture of Cat, Frankie, Ed and Jay from Tess' birthday party. She was struck by a sudden revelation and all at once she understood Tess' strange behaviour and why she had been avoiding her so much; why she couldn't look her in the eye anymore.

Her suspicions had been right all along. That little niggling doubt that had been growing inside of her long before Rio, had finally blossomed in full blown paranoia. Cat _had_been cheating. She'd spent the last few months mourning a woman who had betrayed her in the worst possible way. She got to her feet, almost knocking her chair back as she grabbed her house keys and stormed towards the door. She knew exactly where she was going.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Apologies for how long it's taken me to update this. I had an accident at work which resulted in soft tissue damage in my hand and I wasn't up to writing anything. It's on the mend now and hopefully the next chapter will be a bit longer and quicker. Once again thanks to everyone who's reading and for the lovely reviews :)**

"For fuck sake, stop calling!" The strange phone calls Lexy had been receiving for weeks were becoming almost daily in frequency and they were getting on her last nerve. Alone in the flat she was unnerved by the silence on the other end of the phone and she hung up, cursing like a sailor. When her phone went again she wasn't going to answer it, but rather than the number being withheld it flashed up on the screen. Taking a calming breath she hit the button to accept the call and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?" Once again she was met with silence and no amount of calming breaths could quell the mixture of fear and rage that was building within her. "You know what? Fuck you!" Lexy's phone went flying and smashed against the wall. She slumped on to the sofa and held her head in her hands as she tried to catch her breath, she was on the verge of having a panic attack that would rival one of Sam's.

The thunderous knocks on the front door didn't help her frayed nerves much; Lexy felt her blood run cold as she heard the two heavy rasps on the front door. Alone in the flat and plagued by mysterious calls she wasn't about to just go and answer the door. Her room was opposite the living room door and the hall light was off so she was able to slip out of the living room and dive in to her room without whoever was at the front door noticing. Another series of bangs on the door sounded just as Lexy's hand clamped around the aluminium baseball bat she kept under her bed. Her grip tightened as she hefted the bat over her shoulder and cautiously approached the front door. Her shaking fingers latched on to the lock and she yanked the door open before she could change her mind.

"Jesus Christ!" Sam took a hasty step back, her police training kicking in at the sight of a woman wielding a bat over her shoulder.  
"Fuck! Sorry!" Lexy sheepishly lowered the bat and placed it in the corner by the door. "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else."  
"Anyone in particular you were intending to bludgeon?" Sam snapped as she let herself in and closed the door behind her. She didn't give her a chance to answer. "Is Tess in?"  
"Um, she's at a late rehearsal. Are you ok? You seem agitated."  
"You just almost clobbered me with a baseball bat, and I'm the agitated one?" Sam glared at her, confirming the young Australian's suspicions that the other woman was indeed stressed. "Look, I just need to speak to Tess, ok? When's she due back?"  
"I'm not sure, I'm not her mother." As an A&E doctor Lexy had an awful lot of patience, but she was still shaken by the phone calls and she was starting to get a little sick of dealing with the other woman's mood swings.

"I'll wait." The detective sergeant crossed her arms over her chest and stared the younger woman down.  
"Knock yourself out." Lexy picked up her bat from the front door and returned it to her room. She pulled a hoody on over her pyjamas and went back in to the living room. She found Sam bending down to retrieve something from the floor and was faced with the damage she had done to her phone. The screen was cracked and ominously dark. She definitely wouldn't be getting any more phone calls.  
"What happened?" Sam scrutinized the broken phone like it was the missing piece of a particularly difficult puzzle.  
"My free texts ran out." Lexy lied, knowing Sam wouldn't buy it, but she wasn't about to share her problems with the detective when she was clearly holding things back from her too.  
"You're still getting the calls?" Sam's expression softened as she finally seemed to see through the fog of her rage and noticed Lexy's unease.  
"Not now. Clearly."

She snatched the broken phone back out of Sam's hand and shoved it in to her pocket before she sat down on the sofa and tucked her legs under her. Sam stood stoically over her, her hands shoved in to the pockets of her jeans. "So what do you need to see Tess for? And don't say theatre tickets, you're clearly pissed off at something. Other than_ me_."  
"I'm not pissed off at you." Sam sighed in frustration. She slumped down on to the sofa beside the other woman and ran her hands through her hair before cradling the back of her neck. "Cat was cheating on me." Sam's words seemed to suck all of the air out of the room the moment they left her mouth and the two women sat in a heavy silence, the admission hanging between them.

"Shit, I'm so sorry Sam." Lexy didn't need to ask who she had cheated with. From the way Sam was clenching her shaking fists it was clearly best for everyone that Frankie was in another country. She let out a bitter laugh as she wrung her hands together.  
"Why? You weren't fucking her."  
"Neither was Tess, as far as I know."  
"She knew though, didn't she?" Sam shot back, her gaze on her clenched hands. "That's why she can't look me in the eye. It's why she's barely said a word to me since we buried Cat and it's why I'm pissed off!" She stiffened as Lexy placed a hand on her arm.  
"You can't really blame Tess if she did know. She and Cat were friends for a long time, and you coming here to harass her isn't going to make you feel any better Sam, trust me." It was the second time Lexy had talked her down from going after someone and the detective begrudgingly accepted she was right. Having a go at Tess wouldn't change what Cat had done.  
"Fine." Sam choked out, finally meeting Lexy's gaze. The doctor wasn't entirely sure Tess was out of the firing line, but Sam appeared to be deflated and slightly calmer. "Since we're sharing though, these phone calls…"

"They're nothing Sam, just leave it." She felt like a hypocrite, dismissing Sam's concern when she had been trying so hard to get the detective to open up to her. She didn't want to be dragging Sam in to her mess though. She toyed with her broken phone in her hand; she really hoped her insurance would cover the cost of replacing it.  
"They're nothing? I'll remember that when I'm back here because you've clocked your postman with that bat." For all Sam had calmed down a bit her tone was still harsh.  
"That's great, thank you detective!"  
"Lexy…" Sam sighed, recognising where the conversation was going as the Australian began raising her voice. They'd only called a truce a few hours earlier and Sam didn't want to be going back through the motions. "I'm not just a cop, I'm your friend. You've done a lot for me; now let me help you for once. I can look in to getting the blocked number from your phone company, try and trace it-"  
"No. Really Sam, just leave it. Please. I'll get a new phone and a new number, problem solved."

Sam looked ready to carry on arguing, but the front door opened and shut, catching her attention. Lexy prayed it was Sadie coming home, she still wasn't certain that Sam wasn't going to go off on one at Tess. "Hey Lex, you home?" Tess' voice rang out and Sam's jaw clenched. "Oh…hey Sam."  
"Hi Tess. Good rehearsal?" Though her voice was strained she was making an effort not to lose her temper with the blonde and Lexy had to admire her for it. Even Tess seemed taken aback by her interest.  
"Uh, yeah, not too bad. Nora made us go over the same scene like thirty times because apparently _I _wasn't convincing enough! I mean the nerve of the woman-"  
"That's great Tess. Let me know when you're opening, I'll make sure to get a ticket." Sam forced a smile and nodded towards Lexy as she headed for the door. "If you change your mind about that thing, just let me know."  
"I won't, but thanks Sam. I'll see you in the morning?"  
"Yeah sure, by the bridge at eight."

The detective said her goodbyes and saw herself out. The moment Lexy's front door closed behind her she pulled out her phone to call Ryder. He was due at her place any minute anyway, but she needed to ask him a favour. "Hey, it's me. Yeah, I know, I'm on my way back now. Could you do me two favours?"

By the time Sam got back to her flat Ryder was sitting waiting on the front steps of her building, the collar of his jacket popped up to shield him from the Glaswegian wind. He proudly held up a bottle of single malt whisky to her as she approached him. "That's favour number one, so what's the second one?" He quizzed as he followed Sam in to the flat and shrugged off his jacket. His partner wasted no time in fetching two glasses from the kitchen.  
"My running partner, Lexy, she's been getting these weird phone calls. I've offered to help but she's turned me down."  
"So of course being a good DS you're sticking your nose in?" Ryder teased as he filled the two tumblers and handed one over to Sam. She rolled her eyes at him as she took a large swig. The expensive whisky burned her throat as it went down neat and the warmth in the pit of her stomach was welcome.  
"I'm worried about her. I think she knows more than she's letting on…so I want you to run a background check on her. Find out what you can, if she's ever had trouble like this before." People didn't just keep baseball bats around their houses for fun and Sam could tell the younger woman wasn't being completely honest with her.

Ryder looked at her sceptically, it wasn't like they hadn't bent the rules for each other before, but Sam hadn't exactly been in the right frame of mind in the three months since Cat's death. "You sure you don't want to just ask her? In my experience woman can be very pissed off when you snoop on them." Sam shook her head at him as she took a seat on her sofa and cupped her glass in her hands.  
"She won't tell me anything Ryder, what else am I supposed to do?"  
"Trust her?" Her partner suggested as he took a seat beside her. "You're a good judge of character Sam. You wouldn't be friends with this girl if you thought she was messed up in something."

Sam snorted at Ryder's choice of words. "Yeah, I'm a real good judge of people. That's why I was the last to know Cat was fucking her ex." She laughed bitterly in to her glass as she felt her partner's eyes narrow on her.  
"Jesus, Sam, I'm sorry." He put a hand on her shoulder for comfort. As close as they were he wasn't used to having to comfort the usually stoic woman and he wasn't sure what help he would be for her, but she was his partner and she'd confided in him. "How did you find out? "Her mum sent me a bracelet Cat was wearing the day, the day she…it had her and Frankie's initials on it. I went over to see her friend Tess, to ask her about what she knew, but she was out and Lexy talked me out of it."  
"Do you know how long?" He was probably asking all the wrong questions, but Sam seemed like she needed to talk about it. She shrugged as she topped up her glass.  
"I'm not sure it ever stopped."  
"Fuck, Cat didn't seem the type."  
"Yeah, well maybe we're both shit judges of character." The detective sighed. She cradled her glass in her hands, staring intently at the amber liquid and avoiding Ryder's scrutinizing gaze as she added, "The first night I met Lexy, when we were all in the bar and Cat was in such a pissy mood about being out, me and Lexy just clicked. And I felt so guilty, that just for a second, I thought about it."

"Who wouldn't? Smart, sexy young doctor, hell if I thought I stood half a chance." He laughed, only half joking. "She's a nice girl Sam, and no offence, but you've been a right twat for months and that poor girl's been taking the brunt of it!" She could always rely on her partner to be straight with her. He was right of course; Lexy had been there for her since Cat's death, from stopping her from harassing the driver who had run her over to making sure she was eating properly.  
"Exactly." She choked, feeling tears pricking at her eyes. "All I've done is fuck her about. I like her, I _really _like her Ryder, but what if I tell her and we try to make this work and it blows up in our faces?" He stared at her blankly; he had no answer to console her with.

"I mean, what would Cat's friends say if I started dating just a few months after we buried her? Then there's her parents for Christ's sake! "  
"Everyone knows how much you loved her, and how hard this has been for you, but _she_ cheated. You deserve some happiness; and one of the few times I've seen a smile on your face lately has been around that girl. She's good for you. So grow some balls and tell her!" Ryder slapped her on the back to emphasise his words and winced as she grimaced and clutched her side. "Fuck, sorry. Want me to call a doctor?"  
"No." Sam shook her head at him, her teeth clenched as a spasm of pain ripped through her chest. Her ribs were faring well but they were still far from healed.

She had no intention of telling any of Cat's family about her affair with Frankie. She'd speak to Tess about it, calmly, and she was sure the other woman would agree to keep it from Ed. Cat's death had crippled him enough without the added burden of her transgressions. They'd keep it to themselves, just like she would keep her attraction to the young doctor to herself. "I can't tell her Ryder. I'm pretty sure she's the only thing stopping me from cracking up right now; things are best just left how they are. So be a mate and run that background check for me."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hello stranger!" Ryder grinned as he took a seat at his desk and found Sam sitting across from him at her own desk. She rolled her eyes at him, but there was a trace of a smile on her lips. It had been almost a month since she had been attacked and it felt good to finally be back at work; even if it was only desk duty. Between her physiotherapy sessions and Lexy's constant observation her ribs were healing well but she still had soft tissue damage and she was far from ready to be chasing suspects down. "Oh, I got that stuff you asked for the other day." Ryder pulled out a file from his drawer and tossed it on to Sam's desk. It had been a few days since she had asked him to check up on Lexy's past, hoping for some sort of explanation to the strange phone calls she was getting. The young doctor insisted they were nothing, but Sam figured that if she was being so blasé about them they had either happened before or she knew who was behind them.

"I still think you're going the wrong way about it." Ryder warned her as he handed the file over to her. Sam looked at the manila file warily, like it was a snake that might suddenly rear up and bite her. She was curious about the doctor, not just the phone calls; and thought on some things Lexy was an open book, getting her to talk about other things was like trying to draw blood from a stone. Tucking the file away in her drawer she decided to give herself the rest of the morning to mull it over. The file would still be there on her lunch break.

When Ryder went out to chase down a lead in a Post Office robbery Sam was left with a mountain of paperwork sitting on her desk. By lunch time she was almost snow blind with the sight of crisp white paper and neat black type. When the phone on her desk went off it was a welcome relief. "DS Murray?"  
"Hi Serge, it's Danny from the front desk. I've got a woman here asking for you, a Doctor Price. Would you like me to get someone to escort her up?"  
"No, thanks Danny. I'll be down in a minute." Pulling on her coat the detective was glad for an excuse to leave her desk. She took the stairs down to the lobby and swiped her passkey through the lock on the door to get straight through. She found Lexy still standing at the desk talking to the young man behind it. He was clearly trying to flirt with her. Lexy for her part was wearing her usual smile, her natural friendliness coming out as she made small talk with him while she was waiting.

"Doctor Price. What do I owe the pleasure?" Sam watched the young PC's face fall as Lexy lost all interest him and turned to face the detective.  
"Well Detective Murray, your phone's off and I wanted to invite you to lunch." Sam felt her lips curling in to a smile at the prospect of lunch with the younger woman. Sam was glad she had finally confided in Ryder the previous night, he'd listened to her grumble on for hours, letting her talk out her frustrations about Cat, Frankie and the good doctor. She couldn't deny her attraction to the Australian, but that didn't mean she had to act on it. She'd come to the decision that her friendship with Lexy meant too much to her to risk losing over a stupid crush. Lexy was an attractive girl and almost ten years younger than Sam, as flirtatious as the doctor could be Sam wasn't going to fool herself in to thinking she was actually interested in her. Even if she did turn up on her first day back at work. Sam wasn't fooled by the offer of lunch either. She was clearly checking up on her.  
"Come on, I'll treat you to the joys of the canteen." She swiped her passkey through the lock on the door she'd just come from and held it open for Lexy. She shot the staring PC a stern glare and watched as he quickly averted his gaze away from Lexy's backside.

He wasn't the only one paying attention to the Australian as they made their through the station and in to the canteen. With her faded jeans and leather jacket she looked like either one of the undercover narcotic cops or a suspect, and walking with the Detective Sergeant no one stopped to ask which she was. They waited in the small line to get their food, thankfully the station was quite quiet and they managed to grab an empty table. "Sorry it's not much better than the hospital food." Sam apologised as she poked her fork in to something that was supposed to be lasagne.  
"It's fine, I've got a stomach of steel anyway. So, how's your first day back been? Caught any bad guys?"

"Well Ryder's spelling _is_ criminal." Sam chuckled. "I've been stuck on desk duty, going through the paperwork for this murder case we're referring to the CPS. I tell you, I'm about a page away from committing murder myself."  
"I'll warn Tess." Lexy had meant it as a joke but it struck a nerve with the detective. She knew she had been out of line in going round to confront Tess. She'd been angry and upset and Tess had been the only one left still around to take her frustration out on. Thankfully she'd found Lexy first and as usual the level headed Australian had talked some sense in to her.

"Thanks for the other night. I was out of order coming around and shouting my mouth off." She sheepishly thanked the other woman. It seemed to be all she had done for the last three months, thanking and apologising to her.  
"Sam you were upset, it's understandable. And maybe you should talk to Tess about it, now that you're thinking straight, clear the air for both of you?"  
"Yeah. You're right... I was thinking we could all maybe go out for a drink tonight?" It would do her good to spend some time with the others. Ed had been trying to make an effort to see her but Sam had been putting it off. It wasn't really fair to hold Ed responsible for his sister's actions though and as least with Lexy there she'd have someone to supervise her around Tess.

Lexy didn't answer straight away; she was distracted by her phone. She'd got a new one after she'd thrown her last one. "What? Oh, no can do I'm afraid. I'm out tonight, for my birthday."  
"It's your birthday? Why didn't you say?" Sam felt a twinge of guilt for not knowing her friend's birthday, but in her defence she had only really known the other woman for a few months. The other woman shrugged trying to play it down.  
"It's tomorrow actually. I'm not big on birthdays. I'm just going out with Declan and a few people from work. You're welcome to come? Oh, sorry…hello?" Her phone went off again and Sam waited to see if it was another crank call or not. She relaxed a little as she heard Lexy greet her grandmother. "Hey gran, yes it's lunch time over here…yes I'm eating. I'm having lunch with Sam, I…ok."

Lexy pulled the phone away from her ear and held it out to Sam with a smirk. "She wants to talk to you." With an amused smile the detective took the phone from her.  
"Hello again Mrs Price. Yes Lexy's eating, yes I tried some of your cookies, they were delicious…oh, no really, you don't have to…" Lexy held back a snigger as her gran ran circles around the detective and kept her talking for a good ten minutes before she finally relented and asked for her granddaughter back on the phone. Sam sipped at her coffee as she waited for the other woman to finish on the phone.

"Your gran's sending me more cookies next week." She smirked as Lexy rolled her eyes. "I thought it might have been your mystery caller again?"  
"Uh, no. I haven't had any calls in days actually." Lexy was a terrible liar. Sam could see right through her and she thought of the file sitting upstairs in her desk. She gave her another chance to be honest with her.  
"Really? No calls whatsoever?"  
"None." Lexy's smile was forced as she lied to Sam's face. She looked uncomfortable to be misleading the detective, but didn't offer her truth. Once again another woman in Sam's life was lying to her. "So, tonight, you up for it? It's fancy dress, but that's mostly so all the doctors working late can turn up in scrubs and get away with it." She shot Sam a more genuine smile as she tried to coax her out. The detective felt her gut twisting.

"I think I might give it a miss. My ribs are actually playing up a bit." She watched as Lexy's expression fell for a moment. She shrugged it off and didn't mention the fact that Sam had just suggested a drink earlier.  
"Oh, well take it easy, yeah? And if you change your mind you've got my new number…actually I have a favour to ask you. Could I borrow some handcuffs?" Sam almost choked on her coffee as she spluttered.  
"Do I want to ask why?"  
"Don't worry, it's nothing pervy." Lexy reassured her, laughing at her expression. "Declan talked me in to going as a cop tomorrow night, so _he's_ going go as a prisoner. I want to play a little trick on him with some real cuffs."  
"I'll see what I can do."

After lunch with the doctor Sam showed her back out to the lobby and promised to drop off a pair of cuffs for her after she finished work. When she got back to her office Ryder was back from his morning of roaming Glasgow and she was saved from the pile of paperwork for a little longer. It was only hours later, as they were both packing up to leave, that Ryder asked whether she'd read the file he'd given her. Making a snap decision she pulled the file out of her top drawer and shoved it in to her briefcase. "Not yet." She'd been having second thoughts about reading what was in the file, but Lexy had blatantly lied to her about the calls stopping. If she wasn't going to be straight with Sam then the detective would have to work out what was going on for herself.

When she got home to the flat she tossed her bag and her coat on the kitchen table, helped herself to a beer and took a seat on the sofa with the file Ryder had collected on Dr Lexy Price. She leafed through the documents on Lexy's immigration, she'd done her medical training in Australia like she'd said and then gone to work in one of London's most prestigious hospitals. She'd been in England for almost five years and had naturalised as a British citizen thanks to her British born father. She held a full driving license, was fully insured and other than a few speeding fines she had no criminal history.

There had been no official complaints of malpractice or medical negligence in any of the hospitals she had worked in, though it looked like she had neglected to mention the other two hospitals she had worked in before landing in Glasgow. She'd told Sam she'd moved straight to Glasgow from London six months ago, but from what Sam could see, the young doctor had left London's Royal almost two years ago and had worked in Bristol, Preston and Redcar before moving to Glasgow six months earlier. Lexy had claimed she wasn't the setline type, but she had spent over two years in London before she'd started flitting all over the country. Every fibre of the detective's being was telling her that Lexy Price was running from something; or more specifically, someone.

Harassing phone calls were usually a sure sign of a stalker, and rather than seek help Lexy seemed to be trying to hide what was going on. Sam was willing to bet her pension that the Australian had been putting up with the phone calls for a lot longer than a few weeks. She couldn't exactly confront her about whether she was being stalked or not since she had gone behind her back in asking Ryder to get the information.

She was still wrestling over whether to tell Lexy what she knew or not when she got a text from her asking if she was still dropping some cuffs off for her. It was after six and Lexy had promised to drop some off before Lexy went out at seven. Cursing she picked up her coat and grabbed her car keys. She was thankful she could finally drive for herself again.

When she got to the apartment Lexy shared with Tess and Sadie it was Tess that opened the front door. "Sam, hi. Are you going out for Lexy's birthday? Let me guess, you're going as a cop?" It was probably the warmest the bubbly blonde had been towards her since Cat's death.  
"Ah, you got me." She forced a smile. "I've actually just finished work; Lex wanted me to drop these off for her." She detached the handcuffs from her belt and held them up for Tess, intending to make a quick getaway. Tess of course had other plans as she ushered her in and closed the door behind her, cutting off her escape route.

"You're back at work? That's great! Lexy! Sam's here! I've got to go back to rehearsal. We open in a few weeks and everyone is stressing out! Bye Lex!" She called out for the other woman and walked out the door before Sam could stop her. She really just wanted to hand over the cuffs and leave; the sight of Lexy stopped her in her tracks though. Her eyes widened as she took in her fancy dress outfit.  
"Sam, hey, you brought them! Thanks! I'm so getting Declan with these tonight…are you ok? You're looking a little pale?" Ever the doctor Lexy immediately noticed the colour draining from Sam's cheeks. Worrying she was about to have another panic attack she tried to check on her, but Sam took a hasty step back and offered the cuffs out to her instead.

"F-fine." She stumbled, trying to force her eyes to meet Lexy's, instead of raking over her body like some sort of deviant. It was harder than it sounded. She had indeed dressed up as a police officer for her birthday night out, but Sam wasn't sure what kind of cops they had in Australia. The young woman wore a short black skirt and a tight white blouse with a few too many buttons open. It was the first time Sam had ever seen the other woman wearing her hair down. Her dark locks hung around her shoulders in loose curls and her eyes were made up with heavy eyeliner. Sam was careful to keep her mouth closed, to stop herself from drooling on the floor. "Interesting outfit officer." She smirked as Lexy took the cuffs and clipped them to the vinyl belt she was wearing around her waist, right next to the plastic baton that was through a loop on the belt.

"Thanks detective. Do you want a beer? I've got an hour till Declan's picking me up." Lexy tried to get her to stay, she hadn't missed the look on Sam's face when she'd first walked out of her room and she knew exactly where the other woman's eyes were straying to. As much as Sam insisted she just wanted to be friends it was hard to believe her when she was eyeing her up like a prize steak. Lexy wasn't going to push anything though; she knew the other woman was still trying to sort herself out after Cat's death. Wrestling with her guilt over liking someone else so soon would take some time; but Lexy was patient. She could settle for just being Sam's friend; for the time being.  
"Uh, no, thanks but I'm driving." Sam stood in the foyer with her hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans, mostly to stop her from reaching out for the other woman. "I should go. Enjoy your night."  
"Thanks, I will. Like I said, you've got my number if you change your mind about tonight."


	9. Chapter 9

"Sam, over here!" Even if Lexy hadn't shouted her over Sam couldn't have missed Lexy and her friends in the corner of the bar. The large rowdy group were all dressed in an assortment of colourful fancy dress outfits. Sam felt out of place in her jeans and a shirt. She made her way over to the group that was scattered over two tables and didn't miss the mass of empty bottles and shot glasses. Most of which sat in front of Lexy. It seemed she had put away quite a bit in the few hours she had been out.

Sam recognised a few of the doctors and nurses from her time in the hospital. Bea sat on one side of Lexy, forcing a smile in Sam's direction, as Declan sat on the other side, with a man the detective knew only as 'Sex-ray' standing beside him looking disgruntled. "We have a slight problem." Lexy giggled as she held up her left hand and Declan's right one followed. Their wrists were cuffed together by the speed cuffs Sam had borrowed her earlier. While Lexy found it amusing Declan was sulking and throwing looks at the impatient doctor standing beside him, it looked like he'd finally gotten the man's attention, but his best friend's prank was threatening to cost him a night with Sex-ray.

"A slight problem?" Declan snapped, glaring at the still grinning Lexy. "What kind of idiot forgets the bloody key?"  
"This kind. Sorry." Sam apologised, taking the blame, she'd been in such a rush to get out of Lexy's flat that she'd forgotten to hand over the keys to the cuffs. The speed cuffs were designed to be snapped straight over the wrists and unlike traditional cuffs were joined by a thick black plastic grip rather than a chain. It was second nature as Sam took hold of it and undid the left cuff first, freeing Declan's wrist. "There you go mate."  
"Thank you Sam! I owe you one." Declan grinned. Without warning he grabbed the loose cuff and snapped it in to place around Sam's wrist at the same time as he snatched the key out of her hand.

"Declan!" Lexy seemed to sober in the blink of an eye as the other doctor pocketed the key. She stood up, her actions jarring Sam's wrist. "What the hell are you doing?"  
"The two of you a favour!" He laughed as he made a hasty retreat with Sex-ray in-tow. The rest of their friends erupted with laughter. Lexy tried to make a move to follow him, but the cuff bit in to the flesh of her wrist as she moved too quickly for Sam to anticipate. She stumbled back and fell against Sam, who steadied her with her free hand around her waist.  
"Easy, you'll do yourself an injury." She chuckled; hear breath catching against the other girl's ear. Lexy tensed, aware of just how close she was to Sam, and just how low her hand was around her waist.

That didn't distract her from what Declan had done. "I'll do that little fucker an injury!" She growled, though didn't attempt to move away, her drunken mind was quite happy pressed up against the other woman.  
"Well as a police officer I think it's my solemn duty to stop you from murdering him." Sam teased; she was far too calm considering she'd just been handcuffed to the young doctor. "Come on, I'll show you the top secret trick to taking these off." Sam took the hand that was cuffed to her in her own and lead her out to the back of the club, her finger's lacing through the younger woman's.

Lexy took a seat on one of the smoking benches and waited for Sam to show her the 'trick' to releasing them. "I'm really sorry about Declan; he's a bit of a prick. So can you really get these off without a key?"  
"Who said anything about not using the key?" Sam smirked as she pulled out her car keys and found the smallest one before putting it to the lock and releasing her own cuff. "Police secret, always be prepared."  
"I thought that was the scouts?" Lexy shot back as Sam undid her cuff too and clipped them to the back of her belt out of habit.

"Yeah, well nights out with my mates often end up with someone left handcuffed to a lamppost. Besides, I thought I'd show off for your friends." Sam pocketed her keys again and offered Lexy a lazy smile. She looked tired after a long day back at work and the younger woman felt bad for dragging her out so late.  
"Hey, do you want to stick around for a drink? Least I can do after Declan's little stunt." Lexy shot her a wide eyed smile and Sam couldn't say no.

"Sure, why not." She clipped the cuffs to the back of her belt.  
"Here, now you're dressed for it!" Lexy took off her fake policeman's hat and sat it on Sam's head. She chuckled and followed her back in to the club, over to the table full of drunken doctors and nurses. There was a round of applause as they sat down handcuff free. Lexy waited for them to die down before she introduced the detective to them all. Some Sam knew by sight from the hospital, but she didn't know their names and probably couldn't repeat them even after Lexy had told her them. A dark haired woman who she recognised as one of the nurses took a particular interest as she asked Sam to see her handcuff trick.  
"Sorry, police secret I'm afraid." Sam grinned as Lexy handed her a bottle of beer. Their fingers brushed together as Lexy took a seat beside her and Sam's gaze flitted downwards, towards her bare legs. She'd seen Lexy in shorts plenty of times, but it was entirely different seeing her in a skirt, especially when it was riding up her thigh. She tore her gaze away and took a hasty drink of her beer. She noticed Bea watching her and cursed herself for getting caught.

"I'm sure Lexy will tell us later." The blonde nurse shot a smile towards the Australian. Lexy was too busy with her phone to notice. She had it on silent and had rejected a call twice since she had sat down with Sam's beer. She had clearly been lying about the phone calls stopping.  
"I doubt it. Good at keeping secrets this one." Sam took a deep swig of her beer, not missing the pointed look Lexy sent her way. The conversation quickly moved on as the drunken group lost interest in Sam and carried on celebrating Lexy's birthday.

The drinks kept flowing and before long Sam found herself drinking whiskey instead of beer. Some of the group had moved over to the pool table and Sam was in the middle of a game with the nurse who had asked to see her handcuff trick. Lexy sat on a stool, her longs legs crossed as she chatted with Bea. Sam watched as the blonde's hand went to the other woman's knee and she ended up screwing up her shot, sending the cue ball flying off the table. "Nice one Sam." Lexy laughed as she bent down to retrieve the ball, giving her an ample view of her chest. She tossed the ball back to her, but her drunken aim was a little off and Sam had to overreach to grab the little white ball and stop it hurtling towards the bar.

"Fuck!" She cursed as she felt pain shooting through her side, the ball dropped to the floor with a bang as she clenched her side.  
"Fuck! Sam!" Lexy shot out of her chair and over to the other woman. Her hand instantly slipped under her shirt, feeling the bare skin underneath for signs of a break, as her other arm cradled her waist. Sam forgot to breathe as she felt the other woman's fingers caressing her skin.  
"I'm fine." She managed to choke out. "Honest."  
"Always on the clock ay Lexy?" One of the male doctors laughed, sending her a wink. Sam finally took a breath as the other woman pulled her hand out from under her shirt.

"Come on, let's get you sat down." She ignored her colleague's teasing as she led Sam back over to the table they'd been sitting at earlier, her arm still around the older woman's waist. "Wait there; I know just what you need." Lexy left Sam sitting leaning against the table while she went to the bar. As she was waiting for her drink she felt a hand on the small of her back and lips pressed up against her cheek.  
"It's past midnight, happy birthday." Bea pulled her lips away but kept her hand in place. Lexy cast a glance back at Sam and found her grimacing, though it seemed it wasn't from the pain in her side; she was looking at Bea. "I was thinking we could slip off early and I'd give you your present…"  
"Sorry Bea." Lexy pulled away from her as she took hold of the pitcher the barman had just put in front of her and slipped him a ten pound note. "I should get back to Sam." She picked up the two empty glasses to go with the cocktail pitcher.

She left the nurse at the bar and made her way back to the detective. Sam's expression had smoothed out after watching Lexy reject the blonde, but she frowned at the pitcher Lexy sat down in front of her. It looked like Tango as Lexy poured it in to two glasses. "What's that?" She wasn't big on cocktails and usually only drank either beer or whisky. She took a drink and had to admit it didn't taste too bad.  
"A 'long slow comfortable screw up against the wall." Lexy answered and Sam almost choked while she was drinking. "That's the name of the drink." The younger woman added with a mischievous grin as Sam coughed and spluttered. Lexy had been right about getting Sam exactly what she needed, but Sam hadn't been thinking about a drink.

"It's sloe gin, southern comfort, vodka, Galliano and orange juice. Oh, and ice." Sam almost shot out of her skin as something cold and wet pressed up against her side. She hadn't even felt Lexy's hand slide under her top, yet the young doctor had managed to get an ice cube out of her glass and under Sam's shirt. "Which is what you need for your side. It'll stop any swelling. Doctor's orders." Sam tried her best not to squirm as Lexy's deft fingers ran the ice along her side, her smirk never leaving her face. She bit her tongue as she thought of the Australian's smirking lips pressed against her own.

"Next time I choose the drinks." She said the first thing that came in to her mind that didn't concern kissing the other woman or taking her hand and guiding it lower down.  
"No chance, it's my birthday, so I choose the drinks. Them's the rules Detective." She giggled and Sam shuddered as a drop of icy water ran down her skin. The ice cube was quickly melting as Lexy held it pressed against her burning flesh. She checked her watch and found the other woman was right; it was after midnight and officially her birthday. Sam leant forward to kiss her cheek, but the Australian turned her head to catch her lips with her own. The kiss was even briefer than the first one, but at least Sam didn't make any attempt to run away after their lips parted. She smiled sheepishly as she picked up her drink. "Happy Birthday."

Lexy would have leant forward for another kiss if the rest of her friends and colleagues hadn't realised the time too and swarmed over to wish her a happy birthday. Sam sat quietly cradling her drink and contemplating what was going on between them. She'd convinced herself that Lexy had just been being friendly with her, taking pity on her after Cat's death and then Sam's own accident, but she was starting to think the younger woman was actually interested in her. The chemistry between them was undeniable and Sam had been fighting her attraction to her from the first night they had met.

With everyone back around the table Lexy had to slide up the seat to let some of the others sit down. Sam did the same and ended up pressed right against the younger woman with her arm draped over the top of the booth. Even when they'd drank their cocktail pitcher and Lexy went back up to the bar she sat back down beside the detective; practically sitting on her knee. "What's this one?" Sam frowned at the new pitcher that was put down in front of her. Her arm had found its way from the top of the booth and behind the other woman's back. Instead of pulling away Lexy leant back against it and Sam's hand ended up sitting at the top of her thigh.  
"No idea." Lexy admitted with a grin as she poured two glasses. "I just pointed at one that looked like it had shit loads of alcohol in it."

Within a few hours of arriving at the bar Detective Sergeant Murray was stumbling back out, with her arm wrapped around an even worse for wear Lexy. Most of the group had already called it a night, leaving Sam, Lexy, the nurse who had been flirting with Sam and two of the male doctors standing on the street outside. "Right ladies, how about that strip club round the corner?" One of the doctors leered as he lit up a fag. The other one cheered in agreement, but Lexy lifted her head from Sam's shoulder to shake it at the man.  
"Sorry Doctor Adams, I'm calling it a night." She gave each of her remaining colleagues a hug as Sam flagged down a taxi and then climbed in the back beside the other woman.

They pulled up at Sam's flat first and she didn't like the idea of leaving the drunken Australian in the back of a taxi by herself. "Why don't you stay over? The spare room's made up." Lexy didn't need to be asked twice and followed her out of the taxi, taking Sam's hand to steady herself. Once the taxi driver was paid Sam slowly made her way up the stairs to her flat and only let go of the younger woman's hand once they were inside and Lexy was sat down on the sofa. She fetched two beers from the fridge and took a seat beside her.

Her eyes narrowed as she found Lexy fiddling with her phone again and the cop in her began to stir. "Have you had any more of those calls?"  
"Uh, no. That was just my gran. I'll call her back later…I haven't had any of those calls since I changed my number." She was once again lying to her and Sam decided to call her on it.  
"Call her back now; it's what, ten in the morning there?"  
"Sure." Lexy pulled her phone back out of her pocket and stood up as she dialled her gran's number. The phone rang and rang without any one picking up. Sam got to her feet and followed Lexy over to the kitchen as she hung up and put her phone away. "She's probably ringing my mum and calling me for not answering the phone. I don't think I want any more alcohol, can I make some tea?" She tried to shrug it off, even though they both knew it hadn't been her gran calling earlier. She turned her back on the other woman as she filled the kettle with water.

Sam knew she wasn't going to admit she was still getting the harassing phone calls, so she was going to have to play it another way. Lexy tensed as she felt her come up behind her and she suddenly felt a lot more sober. Sam pulled her cuffs from the back off her jeans. "Give me your hands…I want to show you another trick."  
"Is it better than the last one?" She shot back, trying to stop her voice sounding as shaky and uncertain as she felt. She placed her hands firmly on the bench, challenging the other woman.

Sam moved in closer against her, her warm soft body pressing against Lexy's and pinning her to the bench. "Give me your hands." She repeated again, her lips so close that her hot breath tickled against Lexy's cheek. She patiently waited for the other woman to do as she asked. A small part of the younger woman wanted to keep her hands where they were, to force Sam to make a move, but there was a bigger part of her that wanted to see what game the detective was playing. The tension between them had been slowly brewing for months and Lexy's lips were still tingling from their earlier kiss.  
"Go on then." She swallowed hard as she lowered her arms to her sides and then held her wrists out for Sam. "Impress me then."

The words had barely left her lips when she felt the cold metal of Sam's cuffs snap around her wrists. The detective had had years of cuffing suspects, but her lightening quick reaction surprised Lexy; like she wanted to make sure she had the cuffs in place before the Australian could change her mind. "Sorry." Sam muttered, again her lips were still teasingly close to Lexy's ear, but as her hands went to her hips they slipped past the waistband of her skirt and pulled out her mobile from her pocket.  
"What the fuck? Sam!" Lexy snapped, she struggled against the cuffs, but with her hands bound behind her and one of Sam's hands clamped around the plastic grip of the cuffs, pushing against them, she couldn't even turn around never mind try to get her phone back.

"Seven calls?" Sam frowned as she checked Lexy's call log with her free hand. "You told me they'd stopped!"  
"And you've handcuffed me in your kitchen to steal my mobile, so neither of us can exactly take the moral high ground can we?" She grumbled, knowing she was being petulant, but the older woman had pissed her off. She struggled against the restraints and Sam acted on impulse.  
"Stop resisting." She snapped and a shiver ran through the Australian. She had to admit she'd had more than one daydream about the detective and her cuffs, and despite her anger she couldn't help but feel a tinge of excitement. After all Sam was still pressed against her. Lexy pushed back in to her and tossed her head back to catch Sam's eye, dropping her voice to a low purr. She hadn't missed the way Sam had been watching her all night and she was going to use their drunken states to her advantage.  
"Whatever you say, _officer." _

She heard Sam's sharp intake of breath, watched the mixture of apprehension and uncertainty on her face. They'd been dancing around each other for months, mostly because Sam wouldn't let herself admit she wanted the young woman. "That's Detective Sergeant." She corrected, her lips brushing against Lexy's ear. They moved to her neck as Sam placed a soft almost cautious kiss to the soft column of her throat. She grew more confident as her hands settled on the younger woman's hips and she kissed along her jaw until she reached her lips. Lexy squirmed against her, eager to get the use of her hands back again as one of Sam's found its way under her shirt.

"Take the cuffs off." She pulled away from Sam's lips just long enough to ask her to remove the restraints but the older woman claimed her lips straight back. Sam ignored her and carried on kissing her, until Lexy bit her lower lip. "Take the cuffs off Sam. Please…" With her lip stinging she pulled away and fumbled with the keys for the cuffs. Her hands were shaking as she slipped the key in to the lock and released the cuffs.

The second they were off she spun the Australian around to face her and covered her mouth with her own, demanding another kiss from her. She shuddered as Lexy's tongue brushed against her lip and opened her mouth with a low moan. Her hands found the other woman's thighs as she pushed her up on to the kitchen counter, ignoring the pain in her side that was eclipsed by the throbbing between her legs. Lexy's legs wrapped around her waist as Sam's hand snaked under her skirt, meeting no resistance. "Fuck…" Lexy gasped in to her mouth, spurring the detective's wandering hands on.

Sam grunted as the pain in her side became too much and she buried her face in the crook of the young doctor's neck with a sigh. "Bedroom." Sam growled as she nipped at the soft flesh, eliciting another moan from her. Lexy certainly didn't need to be asked twice.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry about the wait for the update, and thanks again to everyone who's reading and for the awesome reviews.  
**

Lexy wasn't sure what had woken her up, but as she sat up in bed the first thing she noticed was that she was alone. When she and Sam had finally fallen asleep in the early hours the other woman had been pressed in to her side, with an arm draped over Lexy's side. The bed beside her was empty though and there was no sign of Sam in the room. The Australian sighed as she rolled over to check the time on the bedside clock. It was almost noon, but Lexy hadn't been asleep for that long. Her head was pounding and the room was still spinning as she slipped out of bed. Her clothes were still lying on Sam's bedroom floor, where they had been hastily discarded, and she didn't fancy putting the short skirt and tight white shirt on to go home. She pulled out a baggy T-shirt from one of Sam's drawers and slipped it on before stumbling out of the room to see if Sam was still in the flat. If the detective was freaking out about what had happened then it was possible she had fled from her own flat to avoid having to see Lexy when she woke up.

She caught her standing by the kitchen, with her jacket half on, and something in the usually laidback Australian snapped. She was tired of Sam's games. She understood why she had been wary of anything starting between them when Cat had first died and Lexy was trying to help her keep her panic attacks under control, but she had spent months dancing around the young doctor and giving her mixed signals. Her grief could only afford her so much and Lexy was getting fed up of being messed around. It was one thing to avoid her after a kiss, but they'd spent the night together. To top it off Sam had been the one to initiate it.

"You're actually sneaking out of your own flat?" She snapped at the older woman, catching her by surprise. Sam paused with one arm in her coat, looking like a dear caught in the headlights. "Well don't bother. I'll make it easy for you and leave."  
"Right." Sam shrugged her coat off and tossed it on to the kitchen table. She folded her arms across her chest, her expression impassive as she leant against the oven. "You should probably know I wasn't _sneaking_out. I was sneaking back in." She nodded towards a bag of groceries sitting on the bench beside two cups of coffee that Lexy had failed to notice. "I got us breakfast."

"Fuck…Sam, I'm so sorry…I…" Lexy felt her cheeks burning. She felt terrible for automatically thinking the worst of the older woman. Sam's expression softened as she unfolded her arms and caught hold of the shirt Lexy was wearing, tugging her towards her. Her lips curled in to a smile as she dipped her head for a kiss from the younger woman and Lexy eagerly obliged. "I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot…"  
"Forget about it." Sam couldn't blame her for fearing the worst. She knew she'd messed her around for months, taking advantage of the younger woman's kindness and throwing it back in her face when things got too heated between them; but that was all going to change. She'd given in to her attraction to Lexy the previous night and there was no point in trying to backtrack when she'd already taken a running jump off that particular bridge. "I can't make you a birthday breakfast in bed if you're not in bed. So hop to it." She playfully slapped her behind, drawing a giggle out of the suddenly giddy Australian.

She bounced back in to Sam's room, leaving the detective to finish making her breakfast. She'd woken up early and had felt restless just lying in bed waiting for Lexy to wake up. She wasn't sure how the other woman would feel about what had happened between them and the more she worried over it the closer she felt to having a panic attack. She'd decided to get out of bed and fetch them some fresh coffee and bagels from their usual café, but she'd been side tracked and had taken longer than she'd expected, resulting in Lexy waking up and catching her with her coat still half on.

She plated up the bagels and Danishes she had bought and put them on a tray along with the coffee and the birthday card she'd picked up for her. When she walked in to her room she found Lexy back in bed, on top of the covers, and still only wearing one of Sam's bed shirts. She tried to apologise again as Sam put the tray down on the bedside cabinet, but the older woman cut her off with a kiss. Lexy's arms wrapped around her neck as she pulled her down on top of her, prolonging the kiss for as long as she could. She smiled bashfully up at Sam as their lips finally parted. "Hey."  
"Hey." She repeated, her own lips curling in to a smile. She had been dreading the awkward morning after conversation that they would need to have, but as she rolled on to her side and watched Lexy's eyes light up at the sight of her breakfast she was glad that something had finally happened between them. "Happy birthday." She pressed her lips to the younger woman's bare shoulder which poked out of the neck line of the baggy t-shirt she was wearing. She was still completely naked under the top and Sam found the hand resting on her leg slipping up her thigh.

"You shouldn't have." Lexy grinned as she opened the envelope on the tray and found a picture of a cartoon kangaroo staring up at her on the front of her birthday card. "Thank you." She craned her neck back to peck her on the cheek and caught her lips instead. She forgot all about the card and her breakfast as she rolled on to her back and Sam's hand slipped further up her thigh.  
"Close your eyes." When Sam finally pulled away she moved her hand from the other woman's thigh too and Lexy frowned in frustration. She reluctantly did as she was asked though and closed her eyes over. She smirked as Sam's lips covered hers again, but once again Sam pulled away and after a moment of shifting she told her to open her eyes.

Lexy's eyes opened and she found herself staring at a small velvet box in the palm of Sam's hand. Her fingers were shaking as she opened it and she gasped as the silver medallion inside. "Sam, this is too much!" The detective ignored her as she picked the chain up out of the case and shifted to place it around Lexy's neck. She'd spotted it in the window of the jewellery shop near their regular café and had decided it was perfect for the young Australian. She held the medallion on the end of the chain up for Lexy to see, their faces only inches apart as her husky voice explained her choice of gift.  
"It's a St. Christopher. He's the patron saint of safe travel; in case you decide to move on again."  
"I don't have any intentions of going anywhere." Lexy moved so that she was straddling the other woman's hips as she began kissing her neck and Sam let go of the medallion. Her hands found Lexy's thighs again as they slipped under the thin t-shirt she was wearing. "I'm not even planning on leaving this bed any time soon." Lexy giggled as she nipped at Sam's neck.  
"Really? I thought it was your birthday, not mine." Sam swapped their positions so Lexy was lying on her back and started planting soft teasing kisses down her chest as her hands pushed the bed shirt up over her head; breakfast was completely forgotten about.

It was their rumbling stomachs that finally dragged them out of bed in the late afternoon and they sat on the sofa eating stale bagels. When Lexy's phone went off Sam tensed, fearing it would result in another argument if it was Lexy's anonymous caller. It turned out to actually be her gran though and the younger woman was stuck on the phone for close to an hour. "Sorry." She apologised and tucked her phone in to the pocket of the shorts she'd borrowed from Sam "Gran was asking to talk to you but I said no, otherwise she'd have been on the phone all night…I think she's planning on inviting you over for Christmas." Sam chuckled as Lexy made herself comfortable beside her.

She then seemed to realise what she had said and sat up with her eyes wide. "Not that I'm one of those people that insist on you meeting everyone in my family; but you know cheap holidays are a perk to dating an Australian…not that we're dating…fuck, sorry-" Sam cut the babbling girl off with a long slow kiss.  
"Relax."  
"Sorry." Lexy ducked her head as she cuddled in to the other woman's chest, trying to hide how red her cheeks had gone. "It's just…I really like you and I don't want to move too fast…or make a tit out of myself."  
"You're not." Sam reassured her. "We'll just take things slow and see where it leads…how about dinner? I'm starving."

"You're going to hate me but I kind of have plans for dinner." Lexy pulled a face as she got to her feet and pulled Sam up with her. "Tess is throwing me a sort of birthday tea party thing, nothing big, just her Sadie and Ed; you can come if you want?" She didn't miss the hesitant look on the other woman's face. "As a friend. No pressure."  
"Ok." Sam relented with a weary smile. "I suppose I can go a few hours without putting my hands on you." She emphasised her point with a kiss.

Lexy borrowed some clothes to go home in and rang Tess to let her know she was on her way, and bringing Sam with her. She'd told her flatmates not to expect her back the night before; originally she had intended to stay at Declan's, though she was much happier with how her sleeping arrangements had turned out. The second she walked in to the flat she had Tess greeting her in the hall. "Lexy! Happy birthday!" She pulled her in for a crushing hug which the Australian awkwardly returned. Ever since Sam had pointed out Tess fancied her she'd found it hard to act normal around her. "And Sam, hey, nice to see you!"  
"Hey Tess." Sam stood by the front door with her hands shoved in to the pockets of her jeans. She was still angry with Tess and was clearly trying to hide it.

While Sam and Tess went in to the living room with the others Lexy slipped in to her room to get changed in to some of her own clothes. She paused as she found a vase of flowers sitting on the chest of drawers in the corner of her room. Yellow tulips. With a shaking hand she reached out for the card that was with them. It was blank. Frowning she stormed in to the living room and pulled Tess aside. "Hey, where are the flowers in my room from?"  
"Oh, a delivery guy dropped them off this morning."  
"Did he say who they were from?"  
"Uh, no. Are you ok? You look a little pale."

Lexy caught Sam looking over her way as she stood with Ed and she forced a smile on to her face. The detective was already suspicious about the phone calls and Lexy didn't want her finding out about the flowers. The last thing she needed was for Sam to find out anything about her past in London. "Just had too much to drink last night." She helped herself to one of the bottles of beer on the coffee table. "Nothing a little hair of the dog can't fix. So how are rehearsals coming along?" She carried on chatting to Tess, trying to avoid going over to Sam. She didn't trust herself to keep her hands off the other woman. She felt like a giddy school girl, sneaking looks at Sam when she could get away with it.

"So how are things? Lexy said you're back at work. Isn't it a bit soon?" Ed quizzed, trying to make conversation with Sam.  
"I'm still on desk duty for now, but I feel ready. It drives me mad sitting in that flat all day…" In Cat's flat. She dropped Ed's gaze as she took a sip of her beer. She had always liked Ed, regardless of what had happened with his sister and she felt guilty that she was starting something with Lexy while Cat's friends were still grieving her. Sam's grieving had ended the day she'd found that damn bracelet with Cat and Frankie's initials on. Frankie had stolen everything from her, even her ability to mourn her dead lover.

She stiffened as Ed touched her arm. "You know we're here for you Sam, right? Cat wouldn't want you to be alone." Sam felt her stomach drop. There was no way Ed knew about her and Lexy, he was just trying to be nice and to say the right thing; but it unnerved her all the same.  
"Thanks Ed; excuse me." She left the living room and headed straight in to the bathroom to splash some cold water on to her face. She knew she had nothing to feel guilty about. She had been nothing but loyal to Cat when she had been alive, but that didn't make being surrounded by Cat's friends and family any easier. She felt like she was choking as she leant over the wash basin, clenching her eyes shut and trying to fight off the anxiety that was slowly building up inside of her.

"Hey, are you ok?" She felt Lexy's hand on the small of her back and the panic slowly started to subside. "Just take slow deep breaths and count to five." Her hand slipped around to Sam's front, pressing up against her diaphragm to encourage her to breathe properly. All it did was make Sam aware of the younger woman's body pressed up against her.  
"I'm fine." She croaked out. She turned around, taking hold of Lexy's hand and holding it in her own as she leant in for a kiss. "How about you? You looked pretty upset when you came in before."  
"Oh, it was nothing. You coming back to the party? I think Tess is planning on a game of Twister or something…Sadie's pushing for poker instead."  
"Yeah, just give me a minute."

Sam had overheard the young doctor questioning Tess over some flowers in her room and she hadn't missed the panic in her eyes at the time. She was pretty sure the mysterious flowers had something to do with the phone calls and for some reason Lexy wasn't willing to admit it. Slipping out of the bathroom she silently padded in to Lexy's room. She spotted the flowers straight away and the card attached to them. Picking it up she examined it like she was looking at evidence from a crime scene. The card was blank and to the untrained eye it was of no use, but Sam hadn't made detective sergeant by missing the details and when she turned it over she found the name and address of the flower company that had delivered them.

It would only take a flash of her badge for the people at the shop to tell her who had ordered the flowers. Saving the information to her phone she put the card back in its place and snuck back out, re-joining the others in the living room where there was a heated debate over the merits of playing strip poker. Lexy shot her a smile which she returned with ease as she pocketed her phone. She wasn't sure why Lexy was lying about the calls and the flowers, but she was clearly frightened of someone and the detective in Sam wasn't just going to let it rest.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** **Sorry it's taken so long to update! I've finally gone back to work after my accident so I haven't had much time to focus on my writing. I should get back to regular updates soon!  
**

"Hi there." An easy smile slipped on to Sam's lips as she walked up to the counter in the corner of the little flower shop and was addressed by the young woman standing behind it. She looked barely old enough to be employed and her blonde hair and bubbly attitude reminded the detective of Tess.  
"Hi. My name's Detective Sergeant Murray." She replied as she pulled out her badge and held it up for the girl to see. "I was wondering if you could help me."  
"Of course detective. What can I do for you?" Her smile and eyes widened impossibly and Sam was willing to bet she was the type of crime boffin that religiously watched CSI and would do anything to help a police officer; which would definitely work in Sam's favour.

"I've had a complaint of harassment from a woman who received some flowers from this store yesterday. There was no name on the card but the young woman in question has given me a name, I'd just like to double check if it's the right person before I charge them." The lie ran smoothly from her lips and between her badge and reassuring smile the girl didn't question the request.  
"Oh, cool. Yeah, if you have the name and address I can check the delivery notes from yesterday." The teenager's fingers typed furiously on the keyboard on the counter as Sam gave her Lexy's name and address and waited patiently for the break she was hoping for. "Oh, it looks like the order was placed online by a Doctor J. Flanders. The billing address is in London though. I can print the details for you if you want?"  
"Yes, thanks."

Sam waited until she had the print out of the order and was standing outside the shop before she took in the details. Neither the title of doctor nor the initial J really gave anything away about the identity of who was harassing Lexy. She couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman who had sent the flowers. The address in London was a well to do area though, so there was a chance it was another doctor who was calling the Australian and sending her flowers. It was more than likely someone Lexy had worked with at the Royal while she'd been there, but it was equally likely that the name and address were fake. If the stalker had used a prepaid credit card then they wouldn't need to give their real details. Sam could always run the name through the various police databases in the hope of getting a hit though. Just as she pocketed the paper her phone went off and a genuine smile crossed her face as she answered and was greeted by the sound of Lexy's voice.

"Hey, I was wondering if you're free for lunch?" She sounded cheerful but cautious, as though she was still expecting Sam to turn around and tell her the other night had been a mistake. They hadn't had much of a chance to talk when they'd gone back to the flat and as much as Sam had wanted to spend the night with the other woman again she hadn't wanted to risk being caught sneaking out in the morning by Sadie or, worse, Tess. Sam checked her watch. She could easily take an hour for lunch. She was lucky if Ryder spent more than twenty minutes in the office they shared and it wasn't like anyone at the station would miss her anyway.  
"Yeah, sure. Where were you thinking?"  
"I have like forty minutes, so can I tempt you with a sandwich in the park by the hospital?"  
"Sounds great. I'll be there in five."

When Sam turned up at the park she found Lexy standing by the entrance, dressed in blue scrubs under a grey hoody she held a brown paper bag in one hand and two cups of coffee in the other. "Hey!" She leant in for a hug at the same time as Sam leant in for a kiss and they ended up butting heads. Sam laughed it off as Lexy blushed and she took the cups of coffee from the younger woman as she followed her in to the park and over to one of the free benches. Lexy exchanged a sandwich for one of the coffees. "So how's work going? Are your ribs ok? Are you still taking your meds…sorry, I'm babbling. I tend to do that when I'm nervous." Lexy laughed. She was used to turning in to a babbling idiot in front of the other woman, but it seemed she had gotten worse since they'd spent the night together.

"Fine, fine and yes." Sam smiled as she put her coffee down on the bench beside her and leant in for the kiss she had been going for earlier. Lexy eagerly returned it, her lips curling up in a smile against Sam's. She'd been wary of pushing Sam too much and was glad the other woman had made the first move. She'd wanted to ring her all morning but had forced herself to wait until lunchtime. She wanted to see her but she didn't want to come off as clingy or needy just because they'd slept together. Sam kept an arm around the back of the bench as she picked up her coffee and sipped at the searing hot liquid. "I was thinking of getting a takeaway tonight and watching the footie if you fancy it?"  
"Yeah, sure. Want me to bring some beers over?"  
"I've got a few in the fridge. I've got an early start in the morning."  
"Me too actually." Lexy sighed, not looking forward to her six o'clock start the following day. Her face soon lit up with Sam's suggestion though.  
"Why don't you stay over? It's closer to the hospital anyway."

With their night planned they finished off their lunch before going their separate ways. When Lexy stepped back in to the A&E department she was grinning like mad and even Declan's teasing couldn't wipe the smile off her face. "You want to be careful you don't put Sam back in the hospital with these lunchtime shags. She rolled her eyes at him as she picked up the chart for her next patient. The emergency room was mercifully quiet on weekday afternoons and she would finish long before the evening rush.  
"Don't think I didn't notice you sneaking off to x-ray for a quickie this morning." She shot back. Declan was far from bashful and grinned as he took a bow.  
"Things are going quite nicely thank you very much. Though he hasn't sent me flowers yet." He nodded towards the yellow tulips sitting on the counter at the nurses' station and Lexy felt her stomach drop. "A courier dropped them off while you were on your lunch, Bea didn't look too impressed."

Lexy ignored him as she stormed over to the nurses' station to check the card on the flowers. Once again other than her name it was blank, but there was only one person who ever sent her yellow tulips. "They're lovely." One of the nurses smiled, mistaking the overwhelming emotion playing on the young doctor's face for something other than fear.  
"Keep them." She snatched the card and crumpled it before tossing it in the nearby waste paper basket. Her apprehension quickly gave way to anger and she made her way to the privacy of the locker room before she pulled out her phone and dialled a number she hadn't called in a long time. She waited for the call to connect and the phone rang twice before it was picked up by a cheery sounding young woman. "Good afternoon, Doctor Flanders office, Caroline speaking, how can I help?"  
"Uh, yeah, hi. I need to speak to Doctor Flanders, please."  
"I'm sorry, the doctor's out at the moment. Can I take a message?"  
"No." Lexy sighed, berating herself for calling in the first place. "No message. Thank you."

Back at the station Sam frowned as Ryder peered over her shoulder at the information on her screen. It was something he did all the time and Sam hated the obnoxious habit. "Who's J Flanders?"  
"That's what I'm trying to find out." Sam snapped at him, she hated anyone reading over her shoulder. She'd done a Google search on 'Dr J Flanders' and the London Royal Hospital but as usual the internet had come up with hundreds of sites, most of which had nothing to do with the London Royal. One of the results had caught her eye though and the page was open to a newspaper article about the death of a Doctor Jonathan Flanders four months ago. He'd been a consultant at the Royal London hospital and apart from the fact that he was dead it sounded like it could be the one who had sent the flowers. The article went on about a widow and a kid and Sam couldn't ignore the possibility that Lexy had had some kind of affair with the dead man. Perhaps the grieving widow had found out and was trying to torment the Australian over it? Though it seemed a bit farfetched that the woman would find out about the affair almost two years on, and she wasn't even sure if Lexy was in to men; though at the time she would have been a fresh faced twenty four year old doctor and it was possible that the consultant could have caught her eye. If Lexy and this Jonathan Flanders had been having an affair she doubted the younger woman was just going to admit to it; and if she accused her of something that wasn't true she would risk alienating the other woman all together.

Deciding to play things a little more delicately she picked up her phone and put a call in to an old friend who she had worked with in Bradford. If she remembered rightly Jen had transferred to a station in West London and would probably be able to get her some information on Flanders' death. The article had noted that the death had been ruled suspicious and if the police had interviewed the man's colleagues any sort of extra-marital affair would surely have been mentioned. She cursed as she got through to her voicemail. "Hey Jen, it's Sam. Sorry to call out of the blue, but I need a favour. I need some information on the death of a doctor Jonathan Flanders, he was a doctor at the royal, died four months ago..." She trailed off as she realised it was around the same time Cat had died. Her mind was threatening to return to the dark place it had been living in for so long and she tried to brush it off. "Give me a call back when you get this. Thanks." There wasn't much she could do until Jen got back to her so she returned to her monotonous paperwork until she could clock out and go home to get ready for Lexy coming over.

After a quick shower she fussed over whether to leave her hair down or tie it back, then turned her attention to what to wear. She wasn't sure whether to go for something casual like her sweats and the old Rugby shirt that was possibly the comfiest item of clothing she owned; or to dress up in her jeans and a clean shirt. In the end comfort won out and she went with the tracksuit pants and her Rugby shirt, Lexy had seen her in far worse after all when she had helped her after her attack. The good doctor arrived just as the cricket was starting and Sam phoned the nearby Chinese restaurant to place an order for delivery before the pair of them curled up on the sofa with a beer each.

Lexy seemed unusually quiet as she lay with her head on Sam's lap and the detective wasn't convinced it was just because her side were losing the match. When Lexy's phone went off in her back she ignored it completely and Sam couldn't hold her tongue any longer. "Everything ok?" She quizzed, wishing the Australian would open up to her about what was going on.  
"I got some flowers for my birthday from somebody I don't want anything to do with, and then I got some more flowers at work today." Lexy admitted, knowing it would be useless to lie and say she was fine. She'd been distracted all day and she wasn't stupid enough to think she could hide it from the detective. Sam stayed silent for a few moments, debating the best way to broach the subject.  
"I heard you asking Tess about the flowers yesterday." It was Sam's turn to come clean. "I thought it might have something to do with the calls so I went to the flower shop today."  
"Sam…" Lexy sighed as she sat up and pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a headache and an argument coming on and didn't want either. "Please, just leave it ok?"

"I can't." Sam objected. "I'm worried about you Lex…just tell me what's going on…please? Whatever it is, you can tell me." She watched as the younger woman bit her lip and shook her head.  
"You'll hate me when I tell you." She answered, her voice barely more than a whisper. Sam shook her head as she took Lexy's hands in her own.  
"The florist said the flowers had been sent by a Jonathan Flanders-"  
"Jonathan's not behind this!" Lexy snapped defensively and Sam started to suspect she had been right with her theory of an affair.  
"He was my mentor when I started at the Royal, he's a great guy, he wouldn't do this to me…" Sam felt a lump in her throat as she listened to Lexy talk about the dead man like he was still alive. She didn't know.

Over the years Sam had delivered plenty of bad news to strangers, but it was different when it was someone she knew. She choked over her words as she squeezed the younger woman's hands. "Lexy, Jonathan Flanders died four months ago."  
"What?" Lexy pulled away from her all together and got to her feet. Her eyes widened as she digested the news and she started to shake. Sam jumped up just as the other woman's knees buckled and she started sobbing. She had seen many people breakdown when they learnt a loved one had died and Lexy was no exception. She eased her back down on to the sofa and held her as she cried. After a while Lexy composed herself enough to speak and her voice was strangled. "I had no idea…I left London nearly two years ago…I just needed a clean break…"  
"Did his wife find out? Is she the one who's hassling you?"

"What?" Lexy frowned, confusion contorting her features until realisation dawned on her. "I wasn't having an affair with him Sam, sure we were close and he was an attractive man, but guys don't float my boat…I got involved with his wife, Helen. She's the one who's been calling and sending the flowers…" She ducked her head, her shame evident on her face and the detective suddenly realised why she hadn't confided in her earlier. She was frightened that Sam would compare her to Cat and her infidelity.  
"Oh, Lex…" She sighed as she pulled the younger woman in close and pressed her lips to her forehead. "You could have just told me." Lexy started sobbing again and Sam held her as she was overcome by her grief and her guilt.

While Sam comforted the grieving girl she didn't hear her phone going off in her room and it ended up going through to her voicemail;

"_Hey Sam, it's Jen calling you back. I know the case you're talking about pretty well. It's one of mine. The doctor was found dead in the home he shared with his wife. It looked like there'd been a break in and the guy got caught in the middle; but something didn't sit right. The wife was supposed to be away for the weekend but her alibi was lousy. She looks good for it and I've been trying to nail her for months. She's taken a couple of trips up your end recently, so if you know anything give me a call…actually give me a call either way… I'm in Glasgow for a few days and I was going to call anyway, ok? Speak soon." _


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to update again! Work is hectic and I've found something of a social life lately which is never good for my writing. Thanks again to everyone who's still reading and for reviewing :)**

"Sam, hey!" The detective smiled as she caught sight of the blonde waving at her from a corner table in the coffee shop they'd arranged to meet in.  
"Jen, good to see you!" The exchanged a brief hug before Sam took a seat opposite her. Her old partner had already ordered her a coffee and she took a sip, grateful for the much needed caffeine. She'd been up at the crack of dawn to see Lexy off to work and had discovered Jen's voicemail on her phone.  
"I heard about what happened from your mum…I'm so sorry Sam." One of Jen's hands found its way over Sam's and the detective awkwardly pulled it back. Jen was a few years older and had been her partner when she'd first made detective; she had also been the first woman Sam had ever been with.

She'd been engaged to her boyfriend from college at the time and the more time she had spent with the blonde the less interest she'd had in planning her wedding and talking about babies with her mum. It had been a bit of a shock to find out Jen was gay; with her long blonde hair and inability to leave the house without her makeup on Jen hadn't exactly been what Sam imagined lesbians to be. She'd fought her attraction for her for a long time, but eventually she had given in to her feelings and had ended up leaving her fiancé for her.

Things hadn't worked out though and when Sam had made Detective Sergeant she had taken the first transfer she could get; the fact that it had been in the other end of the country had helped. Glasgow had been a fresh start and Cat had been her first serious girlfriend after Jen. "Thank you. You said on the phone you were following Helen Flanders, is she here in Glasgow?" She cut straight to the point. If Dr Flanders was capable of murdering her husband then a few phone calls and some flowers were the least of Lexy's problems.  
"Yeah, this is the third time this month she's came up. I thought it was just because the daughter's been looking at universities up here, but if Doctor Price is here then that makes a lot more sense-"  
"You know about Lexy?" Sam felt the knot in her stomach tightening. It had been there all morning since she'd first heard Jen's voicemail and she had been reluctant to let Lexy out of her sight, but she didn't want to worry the younger woman before she knew the full story.

"Yeah, her name came up a lot in the investigation. A lot of people thought there might have been something going on between the pair; funnily enough I couldn't track her down. Most people seemed to think she'd gone back to Australia."  
"She's been moving a lot over the past two years. I'm starting to think she was hiding from her. She's been receiving silent phone calls and flowers. I don't think she's actually tried to make direct contact yet. So, you think she was responsible for killing her husband?"  
"No doubt in my mind." Jen replied without a moment's hesitation as she picked up her coffee. Sam had always known her to be a good cop with great instincts. If she thought Flanders was guilty then Sam didn't doubt it. "I just can't prove it. The husband was found dead in the car park of the hospital they both worked at. Cameras were down and we had no witnesses and no forensics. When we talked to his colleagues it became clear there were rumours of an affair a couple of years back. The pair were in the middle of a pretty costly divorce, initiated by the victim. Dr Flanders stood to lose millions until her husband mysteriously dropped down dead."  
"What was the cause of death?"

"The coroner said heart attack, but he was a fit forty-five year old vegetarian in the prime of his life with no family history of heart disease. The coroner ruled it suspicious and we started an investigation. We can't prove foul play, but the wife just pushed all the right buttons for me. She seemed a bit of a cold hearted bitch, and with the rumours off the affair and her access to a hospital full of drugs…the case has been shelved but I'm following up leads on my own time."  
"So you think the doctor poisoned him?" Sam picked up on her wave length straight away. She had to admit she had missed working with Jen, as great as Ryder was she'd never had a partner so in sync with her as Jen. Unfortunately their private life had got in the way of their working one and they hadn't been able to work together after their breakup. They'd barely spoke in all the time Sam had been in Glasgow.  
"Exactly, we've got the lab running tests but there are literally thousands of possibilities and the coroner only tests for maybe a hundred of them. Until we find a cause of death I can't build a case against the doctor…I'd like to talk to this Lexy though, find out if Mrs Flanders ever talked about leaving her husband? You're friends with her, aren't you?"

"Uh…actually, we're sort of together. It's nothing official yet, but I'll talk to her. See if she's willing to answer some questions." Sam felt uneasy about bringing everything up with the other woman. Things were still a little awkward between the two of them and Sam didn't want to put any more strain on their relationship.  
"I don't need to tell you how important it is Dr Price finds out what's going on, Sam. Helen Flanders is a dangerous woman…I sure as fuck wouldn't want her anywhere near my girlfriend."

* * *

"You look like shit, Sam keep you up all night again?" Declan teased, earning a glare from his fellow doctor as she pulled on her scrubs. She couldn't help the way her lips curled at the thought of Sam. "So what's happening with you two crazy kids anyway? Are you _going steady_ yet? Have you moved in and bought cats?"  
"Fuck off Declan." Lexy shook her head at him as she draped her stethoscope around her neck and pinned her name badge to her uniform. She wasn't the type to rush in to living with someone, and Sam didn't strike her as the sort either. They weren't even officially going out. Other than Declan no one really knew they were together. "It's complicated, with Cat and everything…fuck!"  
"Come on it's not bad. Lexy?" Declan called after her as she shot out of the locker room and stormed over to the woman who was talking to her boss, the head of the A&E department.  
"Ah, Dr Price, one of our rising young stars! This is Dr Flanders, she's the Director of surgery at the Royal down in London-"  
"We've met." Lexy cut him off. "Can I borrow Helen for a few minutes professor?"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Lexy snapped as soon as they were alone. The older doctor looked unfazed by her outburst. At forty-two Helen Flanders was one of the youngest directors of surgery and had fought tooth and nail to get there, she was used to people shouting at her.  
"Is that any way to greet an old friend Lex?" Her hand found Lexy's arm and the Australian wrenched away from her. She wrapped her arms around her chest, her eyes narrowing on the other doctor.  
"The phone calls, the flowers…they stop now." She snapped, trying to keep her voice down low as a passing nurse gave the pair a quizzical look. "I'm with someone, and I have no intention of becoming your guilty little secret again-"  
"That's why I'm here. John's dead, he had a heart attack…we don't have to hide this anymore." She reached out to touch Lexy's cheek but the younger woman took a step back, her expression contorting with disgust.  
"You could maybe sound a little more upset."  
"Lexy…" Helen's hand caught her wrist and clamped painfully tight around it as she tried to close the distance between them. "Don't be like that. We were good together weren't we-"

"Lex!" The Australian let out a sigh of relief as she heard Sam calling out her name and wrenched her arm free of the other woman's grip just as the detective walked up to them. She was surprised when Sam's arm went around her waist and she kissed her cheek. Her eyes narrowed on the older doctor. She was an attractive woman who had obviously aged well. In her immaculate pant suit with her hair pinned up she held an air of authority that came from having power over life and death. She forced a smile at the detective and Sam's gut instantly took a dislike to her. Even if she didn't suspect the woman standing in front of her had killed her own husband Sam wouldn't have liked her. Sam forced a smile of her own. "Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Sam Murray, Lexy's girlfriend."

She scrutinised the other woman closely, catching the slight twitch of her eye as she digested the news. For all Helen kept her smile in place Sam could tell it was a carefully practised front. If she had to put money on it she would bet the other woman was seething. "It's nice to meet you Miss Murray. Lexy we'll have to catch up soon sweetie." She made to leave and Sam stopped her by stepping to the side, blocking her path.  
"Actually it's Detective Sergeant Murray. Nice meeting you Doctor Flanders." The woman's carefully constructed façade faltered for a moment as surprise registered on her wrinkle free face. She hadn't introduced herself to the detective. Sam might as well have told her she'd looked her up. The doctor recovered quickly as she found her smile again.  
"Nice to meet you detective, Lexy."

She turned on her heels and stalked off, leaving the couple stifling giggles behind her. "What was that?" Lexy quizzed, her encounter with Helen had left her shaken but she was still beaming a little over Sam referring to her as her girlfriend. She hadn't missed the way Sam's arm had slipped possessively around her waist either.  
"We need to talk." The detective's expression was serious as she took her by the hand and led her in to an empty side room. "I met with my old partner from Bradford, she's working in London now and she's investigating the death of John Flanders…she thinks his wife may have been involved-"  
"Oh my god! I know Helen and John had their problems, but murder? Are you sure? Why hasn't she been arrested?" As manipulative and controlling as Helen could be Lexy couldn't imagine her stooping so low.  
"They think he was poisoned, but they can't prove it. My friend wants to talk to you about them Flanders, if you're up for it, it might help? Just…just stay away from her ok? I need you to be careful Lexy."  
"I will." She promised as Sam wrapped her arms around her. She'd fled from London almost two years ago to get away from Helen. She'd heard promises about Helen leaving John for months on end, but she always found an excuse. From her career to her daughter she always had a way to talk Lexy out of going public about their relationship. She'd been young and stupid back then; she wasn't about to fall for Helen's charms again. "Can I stay over tonight? Tess has got rehearsals and Sadie's gone AWOL. I don't really want to be alone tonight."  
"Of course." Sam pressed her lips to the younger woman's forehead. "I'll come pick you up after work."

* * *

"Sam, have you seen my bra?" Lexy called out from the bedroom as Sam stood in the kitchen making them coffee.  
"Wherever you left it!" Sam called back, knowing full well she was the one who had taken it off the night before. She'd picked Lexy up from the hospital and they'd ended up having another quiet night in watching the football. The detective chuckled as she spotted Lexy's bra on the kitchen table and picked it up to take it in to her. She paused as she reached the door and found the Australian standing in only her underwear as she blow-dried her hair. Sam leant against the door frame, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes raking over the younger woman's tanned body.  
"Perv much?" Lexy smirked as she turned and caught her looking. She snatched her bra from Sam's outstretched hand and much to the detective's dismay she put it on. She took a step forward and caught the other woman's lips as she was pulling her jeans on. Lexy eagerly kissed her back, but pulled away far sooner than Sam would have liked. "I need to get a move on or I'm going to be late."

"Are you coming back over tonight?"  
"Not sick of me yet?" Lexy teased as she buttoned up her shirt. "I'm on the late, should be finished about midnight. I'll call before I come over, make sure you're still awake."  
"I'll give you the spare key if you want? You can let yourself in?" Sam suggested, though she felt a little a self-conscious. She wasn't really the type to rush in to giving women the key to her flat, but with the hours they both kept it would be easier if Lexy could let herself in. She rolled her eyes as she caught the younger woman trying to fight back a smirk. "I just don't want you out of my sight right now. Not with everything that's going on."  
"Careful Sam, almost sounds like you care." Lexy teased as she pulled on her T-shirt.

The older woman lost her smile. "Of course I care. I worry about you Lex."  
"I didn't mean it like that-" The Australian was cut off as Sam stepped closer to her and pressed their lips together again for another kiss. When they finally pulled apart Sam pressed her forehead against the other woman's sighing as she closed her eyes.  
"I don't want anything happening to you…I can't lose any more of the people I love."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: So it's been like six months since I last updated and** **I wouldn't be surprised if no one was still reading this, but I do intend on finishing. I just hit a bit of block when I started writing this chapter back in July and with Lip Service ending I ended up concentrating on the other fandoms I write for and just forgot about this. I've been pretty blocked with all my writing lately and a message from **_**CharlieluvsJoey**_** reminded me about this fic a couple of days ago. I found this chapter on my laptop and finally finished it off. I found my notes for where I was going with this and I'm pretty confident that I'll get it finished off within a few weeks.**

"So she said the L word then?" Declan grinned, loved up with Dr. Sexray himself. He reached over for another biscuit from the packet sitting on the desk at the nurse's station and Bea slapped his hand away.  
"That's not exactly what she said." She chided him, sounding more than a little bit jealous. Lexy wished she'd just kept her mouth shut, but she'd needed to tell someone about what Sam had said to her.  
"Semantics." Declan rolled his eyes dramatically as he checked his phone for the umpteenth time since they'd started their shift. "She's clearly in to you even if she can be a bit of a frosty bi-"  
"Her girlfriend just died!" Bea scorned, ever the voice of reason.  
"That was like nearly six months ago!"

"Children, enough!" Lexy snapped, finally losing her patience with them both. It was unusually quiet in the A&E department for a Saturday night and they'd been discussing the Australian's love life for almost an hour. She'd told them about her ex, her affair with the wife of her old boss and how badly it had ended. Helen Fielding had always been a perfectionist in her professional life and her personal life was no different. She's been jealous and overbearing, constantly accusing Lexy of straying despite the fact that Helen herself was the one that was cheating on her husband. She'd been far too demanding and controlling and after almost two years of living a lie Lexy had had enough. She'd found a job up north and had handed her notice in before Helen could stop her. She'd moved out of her flat and had made a clean break from her old life in London. She'd foolishly kept in touch with some of her old friends though and Helen had found her twice. She'd finally felt safe in Glasgow once she'd cut all ties from her old mates, but she was once again considering the possibility that she would have to move. She felt something cold and hard in the pit of her stomach at the thought of leaving the city; leaving Sam.

She'd only just gotten the other woman and she didn't want to just up and leave her when Sam was still struggling to piece her life back together after Kat. Then there was her flat, she couldn't just skip out on Tess and Sadie, they were struggling with the bills as it was. No. She'd just have to stand her ground and confront Helen. She couldn't spend the rest of her life running; besides, things were different now. Surely being the girlfriend of a police detective had to come with some sort of anti-stalking perks? "Can we stop talking about my love life and get back to more important matters…like Mr Henderson in cubicle four needing his stats checked." She pushed the file towards Declan with a pointed stare and he took the hint, taking the chart from her without any fuss. He knew how to choose his battles and the look on Lexy's face told him not to start with her. She was grateful her shift was almost over, and she would soon be back at Sam's flat.

"Dr Price, there's a patient asking for you in examination room two." One of the nurses almost slammed in to Lexy as she rounded the corner.  
"I don't have a patient in two." Lexy snapped at the young woman, her foul mood getting the better of her.  
"I'm sorry, but there's a woman…" The tiny blonde nurse shrunk back on herself. "She's asking for you. She was pretty insistent that she see you." Lexy felt the pit of her stomach drop as cold realisation dawned on her. Gritting her teeth she nodded at the nurse and headed to the room she was talking about. With her fingers wrapped around the door handle she took a deep breath and counted to ten before walking in.

She was ready to confront Helen, to call her out on all of the crazy shit she'd been doing to her for years; but as the door slammed shut behind her she was met by an unexpected sight. Her mouth hung open as she stood speechless, staring at the woman sitting on the gurney. "Hey beautiful, sorry I couldn't wait an hour to see you. Patience was never my strong point." Sam grinned as she hopped down from the bed and held out the bag of pastries that she'd brought with her. "I figured flowers were cliché, so I brought some of those coconut Danishes you-" She was cut off as Lexy kissed her, pushing her backwards against the gurney as their lips locked like they were in a fight to the death. "Jesus, I should visit you at work more often." Sam chuckled as she wrapped her arms around the younger woman's waist.  
"You should." Lexy agreed, her lips curling in to a smile as Sam's hands found their way under her scrubs. "How about I pull a sickie and we go back to your place?" The young doctor asked Declan to cover for her for her last hour and quickly got changed in the locker room before meeting Sam out in the car park and going back to her flat.

"Why don't you open a bottle of wine? I'm just going to take a shower." Sam pressed her lips to the younger woman's cheek before disappearing in to the bathroom. Lexy took a bottle of chardonnay out of the fridge and took it over to the sofa. It was one of those screw tops where the cork just pushed out, but she couldn't get it to budge though. After a couple of minutes of forcing the cork she finally got it to pop out. "Fuck." She cursed as the cork went flying and the win fizzed up, spilling over the side of the bottle and on to the floor. Cursing to herself she took the bottle over to the sink and picked up a tea towel for the wet patch on the carpet. Dropping down on to one knee she began mopping the wet spot. Her fingers brushed against something poking out from under the sofa and as she reached her hand under to pull out whatever it was she found herself holding a manila file. As a doctor she knew the importance of confidentiality, and had she thought it was something to do with Sam's work she would have put the file down on the table for her and left it alone; but with the sight of her name scrawled across the front of the file she found couldn't put it down.

Sitting with her back against the sofa and her knees tucked up to her chest she rested the file on her lap and started leafing through it. It had everything on her, from her immigration stuff to information on her residency and the hospitals she had worked in. She felt a knife twisting in her gut as she realised Sam had been checking up on her. She knew more than anyone that the other woman had trust issues, but that didn't give her the right to spy on her.

She was still clutching the file in her hands when Sam emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and one of her rugby shirts. Her hair was loose and wet and her feet were bare as she padded in to the kitchen. She caught sight of the wine bottle in the sink and chuckled. "Want a beer instead? Lex?" She frowned as the younger woman didn't answer her. "Hey, everything ok?"  
"No. It's not."

Sam stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of the folder in her hands. She had forgotten all about the folder that her partner had given her on Lexy. It seemed like it had been in another life time, before she'd finally given in to her feelings for the other woman. "I can explain-"  
"Don't bother." Lexy tossed the folder down on to the coffee table, sending the papers inside flying everywhere. She pulled on her coat, ignoring Sam as she pleaded with her to calm down.  
"Lex, please, just give me a chance to explain! Lexy!" She called after her in vain as the doctor stormed out of the door. She stopped on the stairs and for a second Sam thought she was going to give her a chance; then she saw the cold look in her eyes as she stared accusingly at her.  
"I get that you've got issues when it comes to trusting people, Sam, but I thought…I stupidly thought it was different with you and me."  
"It is! Please, Lexy, I only got Ryder to find that stuff for me because of the phone calls. I was worried about you!"  
"Yeah? Well you've got a funny way of showing it!" The security door slammed shut as Lexy stormed out. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and called for a taxi. Being a Saturday night in Glasgow she couldn't even get through to the taxi company, never mind try to order one. Giving up she shoved her phone away, turned up the collar of her leather jacket and started towards the flat she shared with Tess and Sadie. The fresh air would do her some good anyway.

She made it home in the early hours, having ignored her phone a half dozen times; for once none of the calls were from Helen. The kitchen light was still on in the flat as she let herself through the front door and she found Tess making tea. "Hey, want a cup?"  
"No…thanks." Lexy grumbled as she wrenched open the fridge door looking for a beer. "Fucking Sadie." She cursed as she found the last of her bottles of Fosters missing.  
"She drank those last week. You haven't been home much." There was nothing accusatory in her voice, but the long walk home hadn't helped cool Lexy down much and she slammed the fridge door closed a little too forcefully.  
"I wasn't aware I had to check in with you." She grumbled, going straight for the bottle of vodka she'd hidden at the back of one of cupboards.

"I didn't…I wasn't…what's wrong?" Tess stumbled over her words, not used to the other woman being so sharp with her. "Have you been crying?"  
"No." Lexy grunted as she wiped at her eyes and unscrewed the cap of the bottle. "I'm going to bed-"  
"Lex, wait!" Tess took hold of her arm, stopping her from walking away. "Seriously, what's wrong? Did you and Sam have a fight?" The doctor's eyes widened as she realised the implications of the other woman's words.  
"What? No? Tess, we're not…" She fumbled; panic welling up inside of her. The last thing she and Sam needed was for people to find out about them, for Cat's friends to realise they were together; or had been. Lexy wasn't sure what they were after she's stormed out of her flat.  
"Lexy, please? I'm blonde, not stupid." Tess folded her arms across her chest as Lexy gave up and slumped down at the kitchen table. "So what's going on? Did you have a fight?"

"Yeah, we did." She admitted with a sigh as she brought the bottle to her lips. "She…she did some digging in to my past. I found the file in her flat tonight."  
"What? Why would she do that? Sam's a little…highly strung." She chose her words carefully, knowing the other woman was close to the detective. "But I didn't figure her for the bunny boiler type."  
"She's not." Lexy still found herself defending the other woman, despite how mad she was at her. "I was getting these phone calls from an ex…she's been bugging me for a while now…I guess Sam got suspicious and she did a little poking around-"  
"Well she is a detective."  
"That's totally beside the point! She went behind my back! She could have just asked!"

"Oh, like you didn't check in with her doctor at the hospital after her attack? Or her physio when she got out of the hospital?" Tess's smile was a patronizing one and Lexy felt herself bristling in response.  
"That was different! I was trying to look out for her…" She trailed off as she realised she'd given Tess the same answer that Sam had given her. "Fuck." She cursed, running her hands through her hair and shaking her head. Tess gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as she passed her to get to her room. She took the bottle of vodka away from her with a smile.  
"Have some tea, and call Sam in the morning."


End file.
